My Guardian Angel (From Canada)
by Sir Weston
Summary: Firkle has a stalker who seems to get him out of trouble on more than one occasion. Now that his friends are all in college, maybe he needs someone to look after him and keep him company. That doesn't mean he has to like it, though. Especially when it turns out his stalker is Ike Broflovski. Who also happens to be deeply in love with the goth. Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1 - Misery

**My Guardian Angel (From Canada)**

 **What? I'm starting another story?! Yeah, so sue me. So, initially I was not a fan of shipping Firkle and Ike. I'm not really sure why, I just didn't. Probably because they never interact on the show outside implied social media interaction. But after reading a few stories and looking up some fan art, I changed my tune and decided I like these two together. Especially contrasting Ike's more intellectual and happy side to Firkle's more dark and subdued side. So now I have to write my own story about them. I don't expect this story to get as much traffic as my other stories, but I still want to write it anyway. Enjoy. This story is from Firkle's view point.**

 **Chapter 1 – Misery**

I hated getting older. As soon as my friends entered high school I had been seeing less and less of them. And now that Michael, Pete, and Henrietta were in college I barely got to see them at all. Granted, they went to the local community college so we could still be close, but because of their classes, we still didn't get to see each other. I hated being younger than them. Sometimes I felt like I was holding them back simply by being five years younger.

I tried to coordinate my schedule to theirs. I often went to the college to work when my friends were in between classes. Pete and Michael actually moved out of their parents' houses and had a dorm room together. Henrietta was too cheap, so she was still living at home. I wish I had the luxury of even choosing where I could live.

Unfortunately, life at home had become unbearable for me. It would be one thing if my parents just bugged me like normal. But when I turned nine, they decided to have another kid. One they could mold into whatever shape they wanted. I guess when they realized I was staying goth they wanted to start over with a new kid.

Only instead of one kid, my mother gave birth to twins. And they are evil. I am convinced Timmy and Tammy were sent to this Earth for the sole purpose of tormenting me. I'm sixteen now, so for seven years of my life those two have tortured me. They're always getting me in trouble and because mom and dad like them more than me they always take their side. I could be sitting in my room all day and they would still somehow manage to blame something on me.

But probably the most irritating thing about my life right now was the football team. For some reason they just insisted making my life a living hell. And not the good kind of hell. I have no idea why, either. Henrietta suggested it's because I keep saying they're the group of closeted homosexuals collectively known as the football team, but what else am I supposed to call them when they keep whipping their dicks out all the time?

"It probably doesn't help that you keep making fun of them to their faces," Pete pointed out. We were sitting outside at one café tables at the community college as I lamented to my friends my recent troubles.

"Well maybe they should stop being overly sensitive man babies," I scoffed, "They're all going out with cheerleaders, you'd think they would be more secure in their manhood."

"Apparently not," Michael snickered.

I sighed and rested my head on my hand. "So, how have you guys been?" I asked my friends. I had been focusing a lot on myself recently, I had no idea what was going on with their lives. "How are your classes going?"

"Eh, boring," Henrietta replied, "I wish we didn't have to take a bunch of useless mandatory classes like math and history. Why would we ever need math in writing?"

"Well at least you're getting them out of the way now," I said encouragingly, "Instead of putting them off for when you really don't want to do them. Plus, if you transfer to another school you won't have to take them again."

"Yeah, yeah," Henrietta muttered, "Doesn't make them any less boring, though."

I let out a soft laugh while fingering the black crystal that hung around my neck. When Michael, Pete, and Henrietta first went to high school, they had all chipped in and bought me a necklace with a black crystal pendant to wear. They told me it was their way of staying close to me, even while we were in different schools. I know it's corny, cliché, and a bit conformist, but I thought it was sweet of them, and it really helped me through some tough times. Whenever I was feeling particularly lonely, I would just touch the crystal and remember my friends, and it would make me feel better.

"So, how about you, Firkle?" Michael asked, "Besides the football team giving you a hard time, anything else going on in your life?"

"I think you mean besides the football team, their cheerleader girlfriends, my stupid younger siblings, and my parents giving me a hard time," I corrected, in a slightly annoyed tone. I thought for a moment. "My stalker is back," I told them.

"Oh fun," Pete said sarcastically.

A couple of years ago someone, I don't know who, started following me around. They would leave me encouraging notes, and put treats in my locker, but most concerning was that I'm pretty sure this person got me out of a jam once or twice. Sometimes if I was in real trouble and my friends couldn't help me, some seeming miracle would happen to help me out. Only it wasn't a miracle, it was my stalker.

"Do you have any clue who it might be?" Henrietta wondered.

I sighed loudly. "Nope," I replied, annoyed, "I don't even know if it's a boy or a girl."

"Hopefully it's not the quarter back's cheerleader girlfriend," Michael said, "You know, the one that thinks you're hot and has a crush on you?"

"Oh God, I hope not," I muttered, "That bitch is ruining my life."

Pete gave me a pitiful look before looking at his watch. "Well, sorry to cut this short, Firkle, but we have a class in two minutes," he explained, "We've gotta go."

I tried not to look too disappointed as they got up and said their good-byes. With a heavy sigh, I picked up my shoulder bag and shoved my homework into it. Then I started walking back towards home.

The walk from the college to my house wasn't too long or bad, but I always felt especially lonely on the way back. I was separating from my friends in another reminder of our age difference. Sometimes I felt like I was holding them back. I knew they could go onto better things, but they stayed behind because of me. And when I finally reached college, would they wait for me to finish community college so we could transfer to a better college together? Or would they not want to wait that long? My grades had started slipping recently for various reasons, so if I wanted to get into a good college I would either have to work harder to get my grades back up or do community college and transfer.

I was so distracted by my thoughts, I didn't even realize that there was someone walking beside me until I felt them brush against me. Gasping, I nearly jumped out of my skin and leaped sideways at the touch as I was startled half to death. Ike Broflovski blinked in surprise at me.

"Sorry," Ike muttered, "I didn't mean to startle you."

I stared in mild shock at Ike, breathing a little heavily, and wondering where the fuck he came from. I hadn't seen him at all, it's as if he came out of nowhere.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him with slight hostility.

"Er, I just saw you walking from the college and I thought I'd join you," he explained, "Can't two friends just walk beside each other?"

I scoffed at him. "We're not friends," I pointed out, "At best I barely tolerate you."

"Fine. Can't two classmates just walk beside each other?" he corrected. I let out a breath of air in annoyance.

"If you must," I replied, "Don't expect me to acknowledge your existence, though." Ike nodded and I continued down the street. He quickened his stride to catch up with me and kept bumping his arm against mine.

One thing you have to know about me is I am asexual. Dating anyone, even other goths, did not appeal to me in the slightest. And I don't know what it's like for other people who are asexual, but unless you're being really freaking obvious, I'm not going to realize when someone is hitting on me.

I bring this up now because there are certain things my companion beside me did, a quick sideways glance at me, a light brushing of our hands, that to nearly anyone else would lead them to conclude that Ike was up to something but was completely lost on me. The only thing I noted was how annoying it was that Ike seemed to keep trying to grab my hand.

I guess the silence must've gotten to him, because even though I told him I was going to ignore him, Ike decided to speak. "So, um, how are your friends?" he asked.

"Fine," I replied bluntly.

"Are they, uh, doing well in their classes?" he wondered.

"I guess so," I said. I shoved my hands in my pockets so he couldn't touch me anymore.

Ike looked at me from the corner of his eye. I could tell he wanted to ask something but was too cowardly to say it. I rolled my eyes.

"What?" I snapped at him.

"How are your grades doing?" he questioned, not looking directly at me.

I stopped in my tracks and glared at him. Ike quickly stopped and looked at me, blushing slightly. He averted his gaze and looked down at the ground.

"What gives you any right to ask?" I hissed at him.

"Well, the truth is the principal and your teachers have been concerned about your slipping grades," he explained, "And the principal wanted me to tutor you to help you do better."

I couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh. "Since when did the principal give two shits about me?" I asked.

"She cares about all of her students," Ike insisted, though I didn't really believe him, "You started out the year doing so well, but at this rate if you don't get your grades up you won't graduate to Junior year."

I hissed with annoyance and looked away. I felt him suddenly put a hand on my shoulder and I flinched slightly. I really didn't like people touching me. I also felt it unnecessary when he took a step closer to me.

"Look, let me help you," he said, "I have all the same subjects as you and I'm in most of your classes. I can help you get your grades back up and then you don't have to worry about being left behind."

It was scary how much it seemed like he was reading my mind. How did he know about my fears? I folded my arms and refused to look at him.

"Fine," I muttered, "This doesn't mean we're friends or anything, though. And we're only studying where I want. Mostly in my room. I don't want to be seen in public with you. Got it?" Ike nodded.

He started to separate from me, probably to head for his own home, but I nudged him in the back. "Where are you going?" I asked.

Ike gave me a baffled look. "Um, home?" he replied, slightly confused.

"Uh-Uh! I've got homework tonight!" I told him, "If you're going to do this tutoring thing, you're starting now, and coming home with me!"

I swore I saw a shudder run through his body as he nodded again. He walked back to rejoin me and I'm pretty sure he was standing a little closer than he was before. We started walking again, and it suddenly dawned on me that Ike would be the first person besides my friends whoever saw the inside of my house.

My family lived on the edge of town, right near the woods, and the house we lived in was way too small for the six of us. It was only one-story high with an attic which I had made into my room ever since the twins were born. We didn't even have a basement. There was a reason my friends and I only ever met at Henrietta's house or occasionally Michael's before they went to college.

I tried to be as quiet as possible when Ike and I got to my house. I didn't want Timmy and Tammy knowing I was home and bugging me. But it's like the little bitch and bastard have super hearing, because no sooner had I set foot in the door were they in front of me like a pair of buzzing mosquitoes.

"Hey Georgie!" Tammy exclaimed in her annoying high-pitched voice, "Mom and dad says they're mad that you're home so late again!"

"Yeah, well fuck mom and dad," I growled at her. One of the things the twins did that annoyed me the most was constantly call me by my real name. The moment they began speaking and I realized that they didn't like me I had given up trying to get them to call me Firkle.

"Who's that, Georgie?" Timmy asked, pointing at Ike, "Is he your boyfriend? Or are you paying him to be your friend 'cuz you have none no more?"

"Why don't you little tyrants get into dad's Playboys again and leave me alone?" I hissed, kicking at him. He stuck his tongue out at me before he and his stupid twin raced off. I turned to Ike, who was blushing for some reason.

"Come on," I muttered, "Let's go up to my room. I have a lock on the door so they can't bother us." Ike silently nodded as he followed me to my room.

 **This is where I've decided to end the first chapter. I know Ike/Firkle is not the most popular pairing. I'm pretty sure Ike/Filmore or any other younger person is more popular, but 1: I'm not a fan of shipping rivals, and 2: I don't really give a fuck. If I can satisfy even one Ike/Firkle shipper then I will have done my job.**

 **Also, if you're just one of my loyal readers who felt like reading this because you like my stories, don't worry. I'm not going to let this slow down any of my other works. I'm one of those people who has to have a lot of stuff to work on. Because if I lose inspiration in one work, I can step away work on something else for awhile before I come back to it.**


	2. Chapter 2 - Can I Kiss You?

**Got some positive feedback on the first chapter so I'm gonna continue with the next one. Again, I don't expect a lot of traffic with this story, but I really don't care.**

 **Chapter 2 – Can I Kiss You?**

I was slightly nervous as I brought Ike up to the attic. No conformist had ever been in my room before, not even my parents or siblings. There were things I had in there that were private and no non-goth should be allowed to see. But I guess it was too late to do anything about it, because we were already in front of my door. I quickly fished the key out of my bag and unlocked the door.

"Don't touch anything," I warned Ike as we stepped inside. He nodded and followed me.

My room was fairly large and completely black. Since there were only two small round windows, it was very dark, even when I turned the lights on. But I liked it that way. I had it decorated with different satanic and occult drawings and symbols. The only thing that was really out of the ordinary in my room was my large vanity that I used for applying my makeup. I also had a closet where I hid things that were just best left forgotten. I only had one picture of my friends that was sitting on the nightstand next to my bed where a copy of the Satanic Bible also rested. And of course, my bed sheets were all black.

Ike looked around my room, standing in the doorway as I went to turn on the lamp on my nightstand. There was an overhead light and I had a desk lamp on the vanity, but most of the time I preferred to just turn on one lamp. Then I sat down on my bed and opened the drawer in my nightstand and pulled out my lighter, cigarettes, and ashtray.

"You don't mind if I smoke, do you?" I asked Ike.

"Actually-" I cut him off as I lit up. I actually didn't care what he thought. This was my room and I was going to smoke whether he liked it or not.

I got up and dragged my bag over to my bed so I could take out my half-finished homework. Ike joined me and sat down right on the edge as if he was uncomfortable or something.

"All right, so this is tonight's homework," I informed him, tossing the papers into the middle of my bed. Then I dragged out a really heavy textbook and flopped it down. "And then I'm supposed to read some chapter of this thing."

"You don't know which one?" Ike asked, looking at me. I rolled my eyes.

"No, I don't," I replied, "I got distracted because someone was whispering in my ear the whole time, and three huge football players sit in front of me and block my view of the board. And you know Mrs. Hamwell. If you ask her to repeat anything she's like 'well you should've been paying attention the first time.'"

Ike chuckled slightly. "Yeah, she is like that," he agreed, "All right, I'm pretty sure I know which chapter it is. Here, gimme." I chucked the large book at him and he caught it with an "oomph." He opened it to the right chapter.

"Here," he said, handing the book back to me.

"Whatever," I replied blankly. As I scanned the book, Ike started looking over my homework. Out of my peripherals, I saw him bite his lip and I grew unexplainably annoyed. I looked up at him with an irritated look.

"What?" I snapped at him.

"These answers are all right," he said, "It's just not finished."

"Yeah, so?" I asked, somewhat defensively.

"Well, if you'd just finish your homework I'm sure you'd be doing a lot better in school," Ike pointed out as if it was something I didn't already know. I rolled my eyes

"Thank you, Sherlock, I would've never figured that out," I hissed at him.

"Sorry," Ike muttered, "I just don't understand why you're failing. What's going on with you?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" I growled. Ike recoiled slightly at my harsh tone. "My life is hard right now, all right? I'm just trying to survive each day and that means school work gets left by the wayside sometimes, ok?"

"I'm just trying to help," Ike murmured.

"You can help by just getting me through this stupid homework," I told him, trying to be less hostile. If I wanted to join my friends in college, I really did need to improve my grades.

"All right, then, let's get this done," he said, moving closer to me.

Ike helped me finish all of my homework, working into the night to get it all done. By the time we were finished it was dark out and past curfew. Not that I cared, but apparently Ike did.

"Oh shit, I didn't mean to be out this late," he muttered, looking at his phone, "My mom is going to kill me if I go out when it's this dark!"

"Sucks for you, man," I sneered, flopping onto my bed and putting my hands behind my head. Ike gave me a nervous look.

"Um, is it all right if I stay the night with you?" he asked hesitantly, "I'm sure mom wouldn't want me wandering around at this hour."

I rolled my eyes and let out a loud sigh. "If you must," I breathed out in annoyance. Ike smiled lightly at me.

"Thanks, Firkle," he said before stepping out of my room briefly to call his mom. While he did that, I walked over to my closet and got out an extra blanket and pillow. Because there was no way Ike was sleeping in my bed!

When he came back into the room, he looked mildly confused for a moment. "Um, my mom said it was ok for me to stay here tonight," he told me, "Er, what's all this?"

"You didn't really expect to be sleeping in my bed with me, did you?" I asked with a sneer, "No, you're sleeping on the floor."

Ike blinked in surprise at me. "Oh, um, all right then," he murmured.

As he settled onto the floor, I went over to my vanity to remove my makeup. I always hated when I forgot to remove it and I accidently slept in it. My eye shadow and eye liner would get all over my pillow and sometimes get in my eye and irritate it. I could feel Ike watching me from the floor as I wiped my face down.

"Why do you wear so much makeup?" he asked me when I was done and got back into my own bed.

"Because contrary to popular belief I actually care about my appearance," I told him in a slightly hostile voice, "Makeup isn't just for girls, you know. It helps me look distinguished and lets people know right away that I'm a goth and I don't want to talk to them."

"Couldn't you convey that just by wearing black clothes?" he wondered. I scoffed.

"A conformist like you would think that," I dismissed, "Anyone can wear black clothes. That doesn't make them a goth. How would Pete, Michael, and I separate ourselves from all the posers if we didn't do something different?"

"Oh," Ike replied simply before falling silent.

I waited for a second or two to make sure he had nothing else to say before leaning over and turning off my bedside lamp. As expected, my room plunged into pitch blackness, the way I liked it. I've always been one of those people who can't have any light when I'm trying to sleep. I could never understand the people who could fall asleep watching TV.

I lay on my side, staring at my wall, and hoping I could fall asleep tonight before my neighbors started screaming at each other this time. Unfortunately, they decided to start early this night, and just a few minutes later I heard a loud crash, followed by a lot of yelling. I sighed with annoyance, knowing I wasn't going to fall asleep until they were done.

Apparently my neighbors had startled Ike awake or something, because a moment later I felt my bed sink down slightly with his weight.

"What is that screaming?" he asked me, a hint of fear in his voice, "Is that your parents?"

"No, that would be my neighbors," I explained with a sigh, "They like to give off the façade of being a perfect couple. They certainly have my parents fooled. But the man drinks a lot and the woman is a whore who sleeps around, so they get into these screaming matches at night. Which unfortunately happens to be right outside my window."

"Is this why you always look so tired at school?" Ike wondered. I couldn't see his face through the darkness, by I could imagine he looked concerned for me.

"One of the reasons," I replied, "Now get back on the floor, you're bothering me."

I heard him sigh before I felt him slide off my bed. I rolled back over and listened to my neighbors scream and throw things at each other for what felt like hours before they finally fell silent. That's when I finally closed my eyes and fell asleep.

…

The horrible things the football team has done to me throughout the year constantly haunted my nightmares. I didn't get very good sleep because of them. Especially what they did to me after the quarterback found out his girlfriend had a crush on me. As if it were my fault somehow. And now I usually woke up in the middle of the night and try to will myself back to sleep. Thanks to those assholes.

But thankfully that night I didn't wake up and I slept the whole night through. I didn't sleep _well_ , but I still slept. When I woke up, I noticed something rather odd. There was something warm and solid pressed against my back. I rolled over and was surprised to see Ike asleep next to me.

Slightly irritated, I shook Ike awake. Sleepily and groggily, he woke and slowly sat up. He seemed a little confused, as if he forgot where he was at first. Then he turned around and met my annoyed expression.

"Didn't I make you sleep on the floor?" I asked. Ike blushed and looked away. I rolled my eyes and got up.

Even though it was Saturday, I usually tried to get to the bathroom first, otherwise my younger siblings and parents would destroy the room and render it completely untouchable. After I relieved myself, brushed my teeth and hair, and washed my face, I went back to my room and immediately went to my vanity.

As I started reapplying my makeup, I suddenly heard a noise behind me and turned to see Ike still sitting on my bed. I gave him a confused look.

"You're still here?" I wondered, "Why haven't you left yet?"

"Sorry," Ike muttered.

I sighed and turned back to my vanity to finish. As soon as I was done I went over to my bed and flopped down. I looked over and saw that Ike was still staring at me. I frowned slightly at him and reached over to my nightstand.

"Here. Here's five dollars," I said, tossing some bills at him, "You can leave now."

Ike watched as the bills fluttered around him then back at me. "What's that for?" he wondered.

"For the tutoring session," I replied, "I assume that's the reason you're still here." Ike fidgeted in place and kept looking all around and avoiding my eye. It quickly made me annoyed.

"What?" I snapped at him. He cleared his throat, but still refused to look at me.

"Actually, if you really want to pay me back for tutoring you, I was thinking of something else," Ike told me, "B-But only if you want to. You can say no. I wouldn't force you."

"Just spit it out," I urged him, "What is it?"

Ike looked at me out of the corner of his eye. "Can I kiss you?" he asked.

 **The title probably spoiled the ending of this chapter, but you don't get Firkle's answer until next chapter. What do you guys think so far? Please leave a comment!**


	3. Chapter 3 - Ice Cold

**What is Firkle's reaction to Ike wanting to kiss him going to be? How about we start the chapter and find out?**

 **Chapter 3 – Ice Cold**

I gave Ike a confused look. I could have said any number of things, but instead I just said one word: "Why?"

Blushing, Ike looked away. "Well, there's a girl I've been wanting to ask out, and I hear that she's a really good kisser," he explained, looking completely embarrassed, "I wanted to make sure I could match up to her and practice before I asked her out."

I was still confused. "And you wanted to practice on me? A guy?" I clarified. I'm pretty sure Ike's face turned even redder.

"Well, I don't really have anyone else to ask," he pointed out. I noticed he still wasn't looking at me. "I figured this could be your way of paying me back for helping you."

Raising an eyebrow, I looked him up and down. Then I sighed. "All right, fine!" I huffed, "Just don't do anything too weird or kinky."

Ike looked at me and nodded. I expected him to lean in at that moment, but instead he put his hands on my shoulders and gently pushed me onto my back. Before I could ask what the hell he was doing, he climbed on top of me and straddled my waist. Then he leaned over and pinned my wrists above my head. We stared at each other for a long moment before he finally leaned down and kissed me gently on the lips.

I've heard other people describe their first kiss as being absolutely wonderful and magical experiences, with fireworks going off in their minds, or as the worst thing ever, like being burned by fire and kissing sandpaper or something. But I didn't experience either of those things. All I felt was Ike covering my mouth with his own. Was I supposed to feel something else? I had no feelings for Ike, maybe that was why?

My breathing was calm, my heartrate stayed the same, and I'm pretty sure my blood wasn't rushing anywhere. On the other hand, Ike was getting really into it. He carefully massaged his lips against mine, occasionally letting out a soft moan. His eyes were closed and it was like he had totally forgotten that I was the one he was kissing. I'm not sure why he felt the need to pin my wrists down. It made me feel a little trapped.

I could hear and feel how fast and hard he was breathing. Maybe he was pretending I was the girl he liked. I was surprised when I suddenly felt him push his tongue into my mouth. I forgot how to breathe for a moment as Ike moved his tongue around, feeling and exploring every corner of my mouth. I'm not exactly sure how long he was kissing me for, but what he did next broke me.

He pulled his tongue out of my mouth, which made me think he was done, but instead he lowered his head. I knew what he was doing. The moment his lips touched my neck, I gasped and violently thrusted my hips up into him, bucking him off of me. He yelped in surprise and landed on the other side of my bed with a harsh but soft thud, nearly falling off. I sat up and glared at him as he caught his breath.

 _"Don't. Ever. Do. That. Again!"_ I hissed at him, empathizing every word. Ike stared in surprise and slight fear at me.

"I-I'm sorry!" he panted, "I m-must've lost control of myself! I was just really getting into it! I'm really sorry!"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Whatever," I muttered, "You got your kiss. Now get out of my room."

Ike looked like he wanted to say something else but wisely stayed quiet. He packed up his things and headed to the door. He paused when he got to it. "See ya later, Firkle," he murmured before leaving.

"Yeah, we'll see," I scoffed.

…

As soon as Ike left I started heading over to Henrietta's house. I was so relieved it was the weekend. That's when I got to see my friends the most. We would hang out, smoke, and read dark stuff like old times. Except I had some interesting things to tell them.

I walked into Henrietta's house without knocking, but when I got to her bedroom door I did knock. I didn't want to have a repeat of what happened last time I walked into her room without knocking. I had found Henrietta and Michael completely naked on her bed with Michael balls deep inside of her. Not really something you want to walk in on.

They hadn't even told me they had been dating either. They told Pete, but they didn't tell me. And I have no idea why. I still don't. I would have much rather preferred them telling me instead of having to see… that.

"Who is it?" Henrietta called when I knocked.

"It's Firkle," I replied.

"Come in."

I entered her room and saw that Pete and Michael were already there. Since I lived on the far side of town I was usually the last one to arrive. The college was closer to Henrietta's house than my house was.

"Hey guys," I greeted as I went over and sat on the floor next to Pete.

"What's up?" Michael asked. I sighed.

"Something kind of strange happened to me yesterday," I explained, "When I left the college Ike started following me home."

My three friends gave me confused looks. "Ike? That Canadian boy?" Henrietta clarified.

"Yeah. He told me the principal wanted him to tutor me because my grades have been slipping recently," I told them. Pete frowned at me.

"Firkle, why are your grades falling?" he wondered, "Are you keeping up with your homework?" I felt a little irritated. I didn't need my friends to tell me I was doing badly in school. I already knew that.

"I'm kind of dealing with some stuff right now, Pete," I muttered, "I don't exactly have a lot of support from my family. And my school life is just a fight to survive."

"So, what happened with Ike?" Michael asked, eager to change the subject.

"Well, he came home with me," I replied, "He was kind of nosy. And when we finished my homework it was kind of late so he asked to stay the night."

"Did you let him?" Henrietta wondered. I shrugged my shoulders.

"Yeah," I admitted, "He gave me some sob story about how his mom would be angry if he was out after dark. I made him sleep on the floor, though."

"Heh, nice," Pete sneered.

"Hey, can I get a cigarette? I forgot to bring mine," I requested. Henrietta tossed me a pack and I pulled one out and lit it before continuing. "When I woke up, the little prick was in my bed though," I said.

"Whoa, not cool," Henrietta hissed.

"That's not even the strangest part," I informed them, "When I was trying to get him to leave he said he wanted payment for tutoring me. I tried to give him money, but he said he wanted to kiss me instead."

My friends' eyes all widened as they stared at me. "What?"

"Yeah, he fed me this bullshit story about wanting to ask some girl out who's a really good kisser or something and he wants to be prepared or something," I explained, "I don't know if I really believed him."

"Well, you told him to fuck off, right?" Michael asked. I felt myself blush and I looked away, slightly ashamed.

"Um, actually, I let him do it," I replied. I heard Pete snicker at me and I turned and glared at him.

"Ok, wait a minute," said Henrietta, "So, in order to pay him back for tutoring you, presumably something the principal and teachers asked him to do, Ike gave you some cock-and-bull story about wanting to kiss you so he could practice when he asked out this popular girl later?"

"That's right," I responded.

"And you don't see anything wrong with that?" she asked.

"Well, other than the story being kind of odd, not really," I admitted, "I mean, I don't know why he would want to practice on a guy."

I really didn't like the look Henrietta gave me just then. She looked at me as if I were a complete idiot or something.

…

We decided to switch topics after that and went into our usual readings. I really didn't want to leave Henrietta's house and return to my shitty home, so I asked her if I could spend the night and she agreed. Unlike Ike, I didn't have a problem with sleeping on the floor.

I was awoken the next morning by my phone ringing. Both Henrietta and I groaned at the noise and I grabbed my phone checking the time and who the fuck was calling me. I was annoyed to see that it was 11:30 (way too early for me) and that for some reason Ike was calling me. With a growl, I answered it.

"How did you get this number?" I hissed into the phone.

"Good morning to you too," he mumbled. I sighed.

"What do you want?" I asked. I heard him swallow nervously.

"Um, I… uh… er, was wondering if you, um, wanted to hang out today?" he wondered. I blinked in confusion.

"Why?"

I could easily picture him getting nervous and flustered on the other end. "R-Right, sorry," he stuttered, "I shouldn't have asked. Sorry for bothering you." Then he hung up.

"That was weird," I muttered.

"Who was that?" Henrietta asked, peering over the edge of her bed at me.

"Ike," I replied, "He wanted to hang out with me for some reason. When I asked why he hung up. That kid is weird."

Henrietta raised her eyebrow at me but said nothing.

…

For me there was nothing more insufferable to me than school. Having to wade my way through an endless sea of conformists and posers just so I could eventually join my friends. But like I said before, the football team was the worst. They strode around the school like they owned the place. Their cheerleader girlfriends weren't much better.

I'll never understand how Ike could be friends with Filmore, who was on the football team. I think he was the only one without a cheerleader girlfriend. He also seemed to hate me almost as much as the quarterback for some reason. I mean the quarterback I understood (sort of.) His girlfriend had a crush on me. But I had no idea why Filmore hated me so much.

He didn't even seem to get that much joy out of tormenting me, either. Whenever the team ganged up on me he would be the only one not smiling or laughing. Just glaring. I hated that guy.

Anyway, during school on Monday I tried to get most of my work done during school so I wouldn't have to rely on Ike to help me. Usually after school I would head to the college to continue working while also talking to my friends.

I was passing by the football field with my phone out, texting my friends that I was on my way. Just as I sent the text, someone suddenly grabbed me from behind, causing me to drop my phone. Before I could even react, I was surrounded by the football team and their stupid cheerleader girlfriends.

"Hey there, darkoid," one of the players mocked, "Where do you think you're going?"

"Darkoid?" I repeated, "Wow, didn't strain any brain cells to think of that one, did you?"

The idiot growled. "You don't want to be snippy with us, loser," he warned lowly, "Grab him, guys."

I hissed with annoyance as a bunch of the players grabbed me and started dragging me towards the football field. I started to grow worried when I saw them carrying rope and a large cooler. What were they going to do with those?

I was suddenly slammed against one of the end goals as a couple of the guys started tying me to it with the rope. Everyone was chuckling as they surrounded me.

"Not such a hot shot now, are ya little man?" one of the players laughed, his arm around the waist of his girlfriend.

I glared at all of them, refusing to show fear. Though I flinched when the head cheerleader, the quarterback's girlfriend, stepped in front of me.

"Hey cutie-pie," she greeted in a low voice. I tried to press myself further into the pole to get away from her as she leaned and started kissing me. I cringed at the taste of cherries on her lips. She kissed me for quite a few moments before pulling away.

Behind her I could see her boyfriend glaring at me with pure fury in his eyes. For some reason I had just noticed that Filmore was standing beside him.

Filmore snapped his fingers and two of the football players carried forward the huge water jug. I could hear something sloshing around inside.

"Hey Firkle," he sneered, "Ever hear of the ice bucket challenge?"

And that's all the warning I got before a waterfall of bone-chilling ice-cold water was dumped on me. Ten gallons of freezing water poured over me as I slammed my eyes shut and clenched my teeth, trying to bear the cold. Not only was the water being poured on me, but I could also feel ice cubes pelting me as well. I was more used to the cold than others, but this was freezing me to my core. It felt like it lasted a lot longer than it actually did.

When it was finally over, I was left gasping for breath while the football team and their dumb whores were guffawing with laughter. I looked up, glaring at them. They all looked so stupid, acting as if they had just pulled the cleverest prank ever.

"Darling!" the head whore suddenly exclaimed, "Look at the necklace he's wearing! It's so lovely! I want it!"

The quarterback approached me and once again I tried to move away from him. "Get away, you troll!" I growled, "This is my necklace! She can get her own!"

"Too bad," he grinned, "My girl wants yours."

"Well she can fuck off!" I hissed. He simply chuckled as he reached behind my neck to unhook the chain, completely ignoring me. "Stop!" I shouted, "You can't take that! My friends gave that to me!"

"Now that's a laugh!" one of the whores said, "The freak actually thinks he has friends!"

They all started laughing again, and I couldn't tell if those were tears in my eyes or just water. I couldn't stand these assholes.

As they continued laughing, one of the players started unzipping their pants, and I knew what was coming next. Several others started undoing their pants as well, but before they could whip their dicks out, something amazing happened.

There was a loud bang and a flash of smoke right in the middle of the group. Before anyone could even ask "what was that?" there was another bang and another burst of smoke. Suddenly, the entire group of assholes and their whores was being assaulted with ear shattering bangs and blinding smoke, causing them all to start panicking and finally run off.

I stared in amazement as they ran out of the field. As soon as they were all gone, much to my surprise, Henrietta, Pete, and Michael emerged from behind the bleachers.

"Guys!" I exclaimed, "What are you doing here? How did you know where to find me?"

Pete gave me a confused look. "Well we got a text from you saying that the football team was harassing you again," he told me, "Sorry we didn't get here earlier."

"But I dropped my cell phone when they first grabbed me," I pointed out. I took in a huge breath of air as Henrietta cut the rope off me. And then I immediately started shivering from how freaking cold I was.

"We can worry about that later," Michael said, taking his jacket off and draping it around my shoulders, "Let's get you back to our dorm first so we can warm you up."

I couldn't agree more as I pressed against my friends, trying to keep myself warm.

 **Pretty intense at the end there, huh? If Firkle didn't text his friends, who did? Also, what did you guys think of the kiss? Let me know in a comment!**


	4. Chapter 4 - Secret Stalker Admirer

**Know who sent the text yet as if it wasn't super totally obvious? Anyway, we're going to get a glimpse of Firkle's "stalker" today. And perhaps some background drama with one of his friends.**

 **Chapter 4 – Secret Stalker Admirer**

The first thing I did when my friends and I got to Pete and Michael's dorm room was check to make sure my homework was still dry. I had worked really hard on it and it would suck if it had gotten drenched. Luckily, my shoulder bag had kept all my stuff dry. For that I was thankful.

"Here Firkle," Pete said, handing me a thick black robe, "You can use our shower to warm yourself up while Michael and I dry your clothes. We would lend you some of ours, but I think everything we own would be too big for you."

"Yeah, it probably would," I admitted. Puberty had not been kind to me. While Pete and Michael were giants, I was still terribly short. Not midget short, about 5'4" but compared to Michael who was like six feet tall, I felt even smaller. Plus, my voice was fairly high pitched compared to the other guys in my class. At least Pete was 5'9". Still pretty tall.

After Pete showed me how to work the shower (I was so thankful they had one of the rooms with their own shower instead of a public one!) he and the other two gave me some privacy.

I slipped out of my wet clothes and left them where the others could grab them before stepping into the shower. I was thankful for the warm water that poured over me. I sighed with pleasure as the heat washed away the cold. I couldn't remember the last time I had an actual warm shower. The heating at my house was crap, so even if I did get to the shower first at best the water would be luke-warm.

While I was in there, I decided to take a proper shower, with soap and shampoo and everything. I'm sure Pete and Michael wouldn't mind. When I was finished, I dried myself off before wrapping myself off in the robe Pete had provided me with.

My friends were waiting for me in the main room when I came out. The three of them were smoking as usual. I walked over to them and they looked up.

"Hey," Henrietta greeted, "How was your shower?"

"Relaxing," I admitted, "Way better than the one I have at home."

"Feeling better now?" Michael asked as I sat down with them. He offered me a cigarette.

"Much," I replied, "Thanks." I took the cigarette and the lighter from him and lit it. I took a grateful lungful of smoke and blew it out into the air. It swirled around for a bit before disappearing.

"We put your clothes in the dryer, by the way," Pete told me, "They should be done soon." I gave him a grateful smile.

"Thanks guys," I said, "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Speaking of which," Henrietta put in, "About that text…"

"I didn't send it," I told her immediately, "Like I said, I dropped my phone when those losers grabbed me."

"Wait, so if you didn't send us that text, who did?" Pete wondered, "Because it definitely came from your phone. We got a group text from your number."

"Someone took my phone?" I concluded. While I was glad that they called my friends for help, I was annoyed they impersonated me and took my phone.

"Maybe it was your stalker," Michael theorized, "They do seem to like getting you out of jams. And this seems like something they would do."

"Ugh, I need to find out who this person is," I decided, "It's creepy the way they keep leaving me love notes and candy all the time. And I swear sometimes I'll be walking down an empty hallway and I get the feeling that someone is following me. But when I turn around no one is there."

"Strange," Henrietta commented, "And creepy. So, how do you plan to catch your stalker?" I felt myself deflate a little.

"I don't know," I admitted, "I would try to catch them in the act, but I would have to think of a way to set them up first."

"We could help you do that," Pete offered, "How about next weekend when we have the time? The four of us can get together and work on a way to catch your stalker."

"Hey, that could be something," I hissed diabolically.

…

When I opened my locker the next day at school, I was surprised to find my phone sitting inside along with a note. I quickly checked my phone to make sure it was ok and hadn't been tampered with before putting it in my bag. Then I read the note.

"Sorry about taking your phone," it read, "But I saw you get taken by the football team and I wanted to help you. Don't worry, I only texted your friends and didn't do anything else to your phone or look at anything else. I hope those bullies didn't hurt you too badly!

"P.S. You should probably change your password. 'Gothchild12' is kind of obvious."

I felt myself growing extremely annoyed as I read the stupid note before crumbling it up. I stormed over to the garbage and threw it away before going over to my locker and slamming it closed. I was so annoyed, I hadn't even noticed that Ike had been standing there watching the whole thing until I turned around.

"Uh, hey Firkle," he greeted me, "What's up with you?"

"Nothing much," I replied, trying to force myself to calm down, "I just got my phone back from my stalker and I was just throwing a note away from them."

Ike cocked his head at me in confusion. "Stalker?" he repeated.

"Yeah. Someone has been following me around, leaving me notes, and giving me candy, and other shit like that," I told him.

"Oh," Ike said. He turned his head slightly and muttered under his voice, "Most people would call that a secret admirer, but ok."

"So, listen, due to… circumstances I'm a little behind on my homework for this week," I said, preferring not to tell him about the football team, "Can you come over after school and help me with it?"

I didn't want to ask him for help, but those dick-swingers had put me behind again and I had no choice. Fortunately, Ike looked like he was more than willing to help.

"Of course, I can!" he replied eagerly, "I'll meet you at your house after school!"

"Great," I said, "Now go away. I don't want to be seen with you."

Looking just a bit crestfallen, Ike looked down at the floor. "Oh, uh, right," he muttered, "Well then, I guess I'll uh, see you after school, Firkle." Then he slunk away with out looking back. I probably should've felt bad, but I really didn't.

I was about to turn around to go to class when I was suddenly and quite violently shoved against my locker. I had the wind knocked out of me and I gasped with the pain and pressure. That was way too hard to be an accident! I looked to see Filmore a few steps away and knew immediately that he was the one who had pushed me.

"Hey! What's your fucking problem, man?" I snarled at him. Filmore turned and glared at me as I stormed over to him.

"You got a problem?" he growled.

"Yes. You," I hissed, "You really think you can just slam me against the lockers and walk away? What is your deal?"

Even though Filmore was a considerable amount taller than me, I refused to be intimidated by him. Even when he tried to puff out his chest to try to tower over me. He seized the front of my shirt and dragged me forward to glare in my face.

"You want to try starting something, goth fag?" he hissed. I rolled my eyes and dug into my pocket.

"Oh please, you don't scare me," I scoffed, bringing out my pocket knife and pointing it at his neck, "Without the rest of your group of closeted homosexuals, you're nothing more to me than another conformist in a sea full of them. You don't have any power on your own."

I relished the spark of fear that flashed in Filmore's eyes as I dug the point of my knife into his neck. We stood there glaring at each other for another minute until I heard a shout.

"Firkle! Filmore! What are you guys doing?" Ike called rushing towards us.

Filmore released his hold on my shirt and I stumbled backwards slightly. Ike quickly ran forward and caught me before I fell.

"He started it," Filmore accused, folding his arms, "He just started yelling at me."

"No, you started it by slamming me into the lockers for no reason!" I shot back. Filmore glared at me then shifted his gaze to Ike. He opened his mouth to say something, but then decided against it and just walked off.

I waited until he was out of earshot before turning to Ike, who was still holding onto me. "I can't believe you're friends with that guy," I commented. He gave me a baffled look.

"We're not friends!" he claimed, "Where on Earth did you hear that? He just likes to pretend we're friends for whatever reason. I've never liked that guy!"

"Thank goodness," I murmured, "For a while I thought you had lost your senses. Glad to know my tutor isn't completely insane."

For whatever reason, Ike blushed at my words.

…

"What happened to that necklace you always wear?" Ike asked as we finished our homework. I flinched at the memory.

"That douchebag quarterback stole it from me to give to his girlfriend," I growled, "Even though my friends gave it to me and the only reason she wanted it was because it's mine."

Ike stared at me sadly and moved across the bed to press against my side. "Why do those guys torment you so much?" he wondered, "Why don't they leave you alone?"

"Because the universe is giving me payback," I muttered. Ike gave me a confused look.

"Huh? What does that mean?" he questioned. I closed my eyes and sighed.

"I'm pretty sure this is life's way of getting back at me for what I did when I was five," I explained, "When I was five years old there was a time when Henrietta's mom sent her off to a 'camp' for troubled kids for two weeks and when she came back she had turned emo. Which is totally different from being goth, before you ask. And then Michael was also sent to the camp, so Pete and I teamed up with those vamp losers to get our friend back and stop the camp."

I paused at this part, remembering with shame what happened next. "When we found Michael, I betrayed them," I muttered, "I betrayed my friends by pulling a gun on them! And in the end it was all one big fucking joke by some stupid network! Pete and Michael forgave me and they never told Henrietta what happened, but I never forgave myself. And neither has the universe."

Ike pursed his lips and pressed a little harder against me. "Firkle, that's ridiculous," he murmured, "I'm sure the universe isn't punishing you for a mistake you made when you were five years old."

"I am," I replied. Ike sighed and shook his head.

"Pete and Michael forgave you," he pointed out, "You should just forgive yourself and learn to move on."

"I can't," I hissed quietly, "I turned on my friends so easily! If that stupid camp thing hadn't been a giant prank, I wouldn't even have any friends now! Either they would've turned emo and likely have committed suicide, or if they had succeeded in stopping the camp they would've banished me from the group! I never even said I'm sorry!"

I was startled when Ike suddenly wrapped his arms around me, pressing me close to his body. I blinked in surprise at him.

"What are you doing?" I wondered.

"Hugging you," he said, "You're too hard on yourself. You need to learn to let things go. Or you're going to stay miserable your whole life."

I sighed. "Maybe you're right," I mumbled.

"I know I'm right," he grinned, "Can I kiss you again?"

I let out long annoyed sigh. " _Fine!_ " I moaned. Ike smiled then gently pushed me onto my back, kissing me on the way down.

 **I thought that would be a funny way to end the chapter. The next chapter might actually take a little bit to get up because I don't know what I want to do next. Anyway, be sure to leave a comment!**


	5. Chapter 5 - Weed

**I meant to have Firkle have a conversation with Pete in that last chapter and then I totally forgot to add it. Oops. Anyway, here's this chapter which I totally know what's going to happen. (I don't.)**

 **Chapter 5 – Weed**

The little prick tried to run his hands under my shirt which got him booted from my house again. I don't know if I really made this clear, but I don't like people touching me. Sometimes I don't even like it when my friends touch me.

After I kicked out Ike, I laid on my bed wondering what to do with the rest of my night. Usually I would write poetry in my notebook, but I hadn't been inspired in quite a while. My phone suddenly buzzed on the nightstand with a text. I reached over and picked it up and was a little surprised to see a text from Pete.

PETE: Hey, can I come over?

I opened my phone to text him back.

FIRKLE: Sure. Text me when you get here and I'll let you in.

PETE: Thanks.

Because Pete owned his own car it didn't take long for him to drive to my house from the college. He texted me when he was downstairs and I went down to let him in. I didn't trust my family to handle my friends. Beyond greeting each other at the door, neither of us spoke until we got to my room.

"So, what made you want to hang out all of a sudden?" I asked, sitting down on my bed (there was really no where else to sit in my room.)

"Eh, Henrietta came over to our dorm room and she and Michael started getting horny for each other, so I wanted to bail before the fucking started," Pete explained, looking around my room. It had been a while since he had last been here.

"That's a good reason," I said, nodding, "Sorry I don't have much to offer. My parents don't give me any money so I can't supply your wild college life."

"That's all right," Pete replied, grinning, and holding up a plastic bag, "I brought my own." My eyes widened.

"What is that?" I asked.

Pete's grin widened. "It's weed," he told me, "Don't ask me who I got it from. I just thought after a stressful week you could use something more powerful than regular cigarettes to take the edge off. And honestly, I could use it myself."

I would ask why, but I had known Pete long enough to know by now that if he wanted to share something he would. Asking him wouldn't get me anywhere.

"So, you up for smoking this, or what?" he asked, breaking me from my thoughts.

"Yeah, why the hell not?" I said with a shrug, "It's not like my parents would care if I got stoned or not."

Pete nodded in agreement and sat down on the bed with me. He pulled up his backpack which I had just realized he had brought with him and brought out some stuff to start preparing the weed. The expert way he mashed the leaves and rolled up a joint made me think that this wasn't his first time smoking pot.

He handed me the first joint before starting on a second one. I pulled out my lighter and lit it up before taking a drag. Instantly I felt myself filled with a sense of calm I had never felt before. I let out a breath full of smoke with a sigh.

"This is some good stuff," I said as Pete also started lighting up.

"Yeah, I've done this before," he admitted, "It helps me relax when I get really stressed." I looked at him.

"Have you been getting stressed often?" I asked. Pete pursed his lips.

"Well, maybe a little," he confessed, "Actually, there are times when I can't stand to be around Michael and Henrietta, especially recently." I cocked my head at him in confusion.

"Why not?" I wondered. Pete sighed.

"I may have a crush on Henrietta," he muttered, "And a while ago I was planning on asking her out. I'm not entirely sure, but I think Michael found out and asked her out before I could."

I had no idea what to say. I would never expect Michael to do something like that. I opened my mouth to console Pete, but I didn't even know how. Comforting people was not something I was very good at. Or did very often. Or at all.

"Sorry, Pete," I murmured, taking another drag. I felt myself starting to relax even more, but I was still concerned about my friend.

"It's all right," he said, "I try not to resent Michael too much. I mean, I don't actually have any proof that he knew about my feelings for Henrietta. And it would get awkward if I hated my roommate and one of my best friends."

"That is true," I agreed, starting to relax so much that I fell over onto my back. Pete joined me, laying down beside me.

"Did I ever tell you that I'm bisexual?" he asked out of the blue. I inhaled sharply, chocking on a lungful of smoke.

"No, you haven't," I said after I recovered.

"Heh, yeah, I haven't really told anyone actually," Pete said, "Not even Michael or Henrietta. I prefer girls, but I realized I also like guys."

"Whoa," I muttered, the weed making my brain slightly slow, "Bet you didn't know I'm asexual." Pete chuckled.

"Actually I did know that, Firkle," he replied, "You told us that as soon as you hit puberty."

"Oh," I murmured. I thought for a moment. "So, are there any guys you think are hot?"

"Well, for the brief time he was goth I thought Stan was pretty hot," Pete answered, "I think he's what caused me to realize I'm bi. But as soon as he went back to normal I didn't care anymore."

I couldn't help but giggle at that. "Tell me more!" I demanded.

"Ok, well apparently that fucking vamp, Mike, thinks that because I'm bi it gives him the right to hit on me," he growled.

"Oh shit, I didn't know Mike went to the community college with you guys!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, the douche bag follows me around, hitting on me and trying to ask me out," Pete sighed, "It's been really annoying. It's like he thinks that if he bugs me long enough I'll eventually give in and say yes. Like that will ever happen."

I giggled while taking another hit of weed. "That sucks, man," I laughed, "I'm glad I'm not you! Then I would have to deal with vampires and that hair!"

"Geez, you are so high right now," Pete noted, smiling.

"I am so fucking high right now," I agreed. I couldn't help but notice Pete scooch a bit closer to me. He sat up and leaned on his elbow.

"There are some other guys I think are hot," he told me, "I always thought you were pretty attractive, for instance."

I think I felt myself blush at his words. "R-Really?" I asked. Pete nodded.

"I know you're asexual, but sometimes I've thought about kissing you," he confessed, "Not in like a romantic way or anything. Just to see what it's like, really. I've never gotten to kiss a guy before. And I thought maybe kissing a friend would be better because they wouldn't make it weird."

"We can kiss!" I stated, perhaps a bit more enthusiastically than I meant to be, "We wouldn't make it weird at all!"

Pete smirked a little and thought it over. Then he looked at me. "All right, let's do it," he said. He moved over and pressed lightly against my side before leaning over me. I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck and brought him down, our lips lightly touching for a brief taste test before pressing them more firmly together.

Maybe it was the weed making everything feel better, but kissing Pete felt fucking fantastic. We had our arms firmly wrapped around each other as we kissed each other hard and deep. I tangled a hand in Pete's hair as he carefully and sensually massaged his lips against mine. I couldn't help but sigh into his mouth. He was an excellent kisser.

I dared to open my mouth and shuddered with pleasure as he slipped his tongue past my lips and into my mouth. We both moaned at the same time. I didn't know kissing someone could actually feel good! Pete wasn't completely on top of me, which was good, considering how much taller he was than me. I wouldn't say any of this was really turning me on, but I was rather enjoying myself, and judging by the way Pete attacked my mouth, I'd say he was as well.

Our kissing was very lazy as we didn't want to go nuts and suddenly start ripping each other's clothes off or something. We had our tongues playfully fighting for dominance between our lips. Pete's tongue stud rubbed against my own tongue, making my entire body tingle with a weird sort of pleasure. The fact that I could taste the weed on his breath was giving me an even greater high than before. I had a strange sensation of just wanting to kiss him all night. I imagined it would wear off eventually, but at the moment I couldn't care less.

Not once during our make out session did our lips leave each other. I started running one hand up Pete's back, and I felt him tremble. He hummed into my mouth so I took it he liked it, so I kept doing it. Our arms slowly tightened around each other the longer we kissed.

"Mmm… Firkle," Pete mumbled against my mouth, "You are a really fucking good kisser. I could lie here and kiss you all night."

"Same here," I hummed, "And I'm not even into kissing. Fuck, Pete. You are really good at this." Admittedly it was a little hard to talk with our tongues down each other's throats, but we could basically understand each other.

I was immensely disappointed when Pete suddenly pulled away and sat up, looking over at my clock. He frowned.

"Sorry Firkle," he said, "As much as I would love to stay here suck face with you all night, I have to go. I forgot I have a test in the morning."

With a sigh I sat up and Pete did the same. He started packing up his weed and other stuff, but before he could stand up, I quickly stopped him.

"Wait Pete! Maybe we could do this again sometime," I suggested, "You know, hang out, just the two of us and do whatever."

Pete smiled gently. "Yeah, I would like that," he admitted, "This was nice. I liked spending time with you. Sometimes Michael and Henrietta can be a bit much, you know?"

"Heh, yeah," I replied, even though I personally relished any time I got to spend with any of my friends. But I wasn't going to tell Pete that. That would make me sound clingy and conformist.

Pete bid me good-night before shouldering his backpack and leaving. I watched him go before flopping back onto my bed. I was looking forward to the next time Pete and I got together.

 **I'm going to end the chapter there, because anything else would make it filler. It's a little short, but oh well. Ike will be back next chapter, but until then, tell me what you thought about this weird ass thing! And it ain't over between Pete and Firkle. Not for a long while.**


	6. Chapter 6 - Dramatic Music

**So, Firkle and Pete had some pretty hot times, huh? And don't worry, that's not the last time they'll be getting together. *Wink* But for now, back to Firkle and Ike drama. Firkle is determined to find out who his stalker is. Let's see if he catches them.**

 **Chapter 6 – Dramatic Music**

I couldn't stand seeing that damn cheerleader parading around my necklace as if she owned it. She kept showing it off to her friends, claiming her boyfriend got it for her, though in reality he stole it from me and she knew it. It really pissed me off.

"Are you all right?" Ike whispered to me as I glared at the cheerleader in one of our shared classes.

"No," I hissed, "I can't stand that bitch. If she thought stealing my necklace was going to make me like her she is sorely mistaken."

Ike gave me a sympathetic frown. "I wish there was something I could do for you," he said in a sad voice.

"Not unless you can magically get my necklace back from her," I muttered. I rested my head on my hand in frustration. It wasn't fair. Why did it have to be the one object I treasured most that got stolen from me?

"Why don't you ever report the football team for abusing you?" Ike asked me in a low voice. He had moved his desk a little closer to talk to me because technically we were supposed to be working, but no one actually was.

"Yeah, like anyone is going to believe me," I scoffed, "The entire football team against one lone goth whom nobody even likes. Yeah, that'll go over well." There was actually another major reason I didn't rat them out, but I didn't like to dwell on that memory. Let's just say there was a reason they whipped their dicks out every time they were done tormenting me.

Ike's frown deepened and he leaned over and rested a hand on top of mine. I flinched slightly away from him. He opened his mouth to say something, but he was suddenly interrupted by Filmore and his douchebag friend, Quaid.

"Hey Dorkle, mind if we cut in?" Quaid sneered. I glared at him and Filmore. Why were they even up? We were supposed to be working.

"So, Ike, next weekend there's going to be a party at Mirabelle's house and you're going," Filmore said. He said it in such a way that made it clear that it was not a request.

"I don't know, Filmore, I'm not really a party guy," Ike told him, "And I don't exactly appreciate being commanded to go to something I don't want to go to."

Filmore didn't seem to care. "I already invited all of your friends and they agreed to go," he informed the Canadian.

"Doesn't mean I have to go," Ike muttered.

"Come on, Ike," Quaid whined, lightly punching his shoulder, "Don't be a wet blanket! This'll be the biggest, hottest party of the year!"

"I'll think about it," Ike replied, rubbing his shoulder where Quaid had punched it. Even though it had been a light punch, Quaid is a beefy guy, so even his light punches probably hurt like hell.

Thankfully, Ike's answer seemed to satisfy Filmore and he and Quaid went back to their seats. I felt like I could finally breathe again. Those two always made me really uncomfortable when they were around.

"You're not really going to go to that party, are you?" I asked Ike, despite not really caring whether he went or not.

Ike sighed. "I don't know," he replied, "I mean, all my friends are going to be there so maybe it won't be too bad? Parties just aren't my thing."

"You wouldn't catch me dead at any party," I told him, "I can't stand the loud music, all the people bumping into you, or the drinking or anything else that supposedly makes a party fun. Any time I hear people talking about them I just don't get why people think they're so great."

"Have you ever been to a party?" Ike wondered.

"No," I scoffed, "And I never will."

"Not even a birthday party, like when we were younger?" he wondered.

"No!" I snapped, starting to get irritated, "Haven't you figured out yet that people just don't like me, Ike! But it's not like I care anyway! I'm an introvert! I don't like being around a lot of people and that's fine by me! I'd rather they all leave me alone anyway!"

The bell suddenly rang, signaling the end of class. I slammed my book closed and shoved it into my bag and got out of the room before Ike could say another word.

I decided to skip my next class in favor of smoking outside near the courtyard. It was near the sports fields, but thankfully gym class was inside today so I was all by myself. While I preferred it this way, it did make me miss the days when I would smoke with my friends. We would just sit outside with a boombox and listen to dark music while smoking. Oh, how I longed for those days.

I was on my second cigarette when the door beside me opened. I quickly ducked out of view in case it was a teacher but was equally annoyed when Ike stepped out.

"Firkle?" he called softly, "Are you out here?" I sighed with aggravation.

"What do you want?" I growled at him, "Can't I go anywhere without you following me around?"

Ike looked over to where I was and walked over to me. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, I blew smoke in his face. He coughed and waved a hand in front of him.

"Well that was rude," he muttered, "Firkle, what are you doing out here? You're supposed to be in class."

"Yeah? So?"

"So, weren't you going to try harder to get your grades up?" he scolded. I rolled my eyes.

"Don't lecture me," I sneered, "It's just one class. I just really needed a smoke break, all right? I'll come back in when the bell rings."

Ike frowned. "You shouldn't smoke, you know," he said, "It's really bad for your health. And since you've been smoking since you were five who knows how fucked up your body could be now?"

"Like I care," I muttered, "I've already heard the 'smoking is bad for you' speech a million times already. Tell it to someone who actually cares." Ike's frown deepened.

"Aren't you worried you might get lung cancer? Or any other type of cancer?" he wondered, "You could die."

"No one would care anyway," I hissed, taking another drag on my cigarette.

"That's not true," Ike murmured. He stepped closer and lightly pressed against my side. "Your friends care about you. They would miss you if you were gone. And… I… care about you as well."

I didn't say anything. I really didn't know what to say to that. I guess it was flattering that Ike cared about me, despite me being rude to him all the time. And the truth was that I had cut back on my smoking as I got older. Usually I only smoked with my friends or when I got really stressed. In my room I only smoked like one cigarette. I did know how bad it was for me and it made it hard for me to breathe sometimes, especially when I was running from the football team. But a bad habit is hard to break, especially one you've been doing since you were five.

For some reason Ike stayed out there with me until the bell rang. I'll admit I kind of enjoyed having the company even if we didn't say anything to each other. I would never tell this to Ike, though.

On our way to our next class, I split from Ike as I didn't have that class with him. Unfortunately, it was one I had with Filmore and Quaid. Even while the teacher was talking they wouldn't shut up about the party. And they were within earshot, so I couldn't concentrate on anything the teacher said.

They kept giggling about all the girls they were going to score at the party and how wasted they planned to get. I tried to tune them out, but it was really difficult.

"We have to make sure the girl to guy ratio is at least three to one," Filmore whispered behind me, "That way we have plenty of girls to choose from."

"Maybe we can get a hot three way going with some of them," Quaid suggested with a chuckle. I rolled my eyes. Couldn't these guys think about anything other than parties and sex?

"Could you guys shut up?" I hissed over my shoulder at them, "Unlike you block heads, I'm actually trying to learn!"

Filmore immediately glared at me. "I don't take orders from losers like you," he growled.

"Dorkle is probably upset that he wasn't invited to the party," Quaid snickered.

"Yeah, because I would really want to go to a party thrown by a bunch of dick swingers like you," I scoffed. I'm almost certain that if we weren't in class Filmore would've socked me.

Not that he didn't get the chance to. After the bell rang, we all filed out the room, but I was rudely shoved out of the way by Filmore on his way out. I glared after him and waited for everyone else to leave first.

I was so glad it was the end of the day. This day was really tiring. I walked towards my locker but before I turned the corner, something compelled me to stop and hide. I slowly peered around the corner and looked down the hallway. It was mostly empty now, there were only a few lingering students left. I could easily see my locker from where I stood.

After a few minutes I saw Ike walking down the hallway, which was weird because I knew his locker wasn't anywhere near mine. I watched as he stopped at my locker and looked around before starting to put in my combination. I took a sharp breath as he took a folded-up paper out of his pocket. As he opened the door, I quickly strode over to him.

"Ike?!" I exclaimed, startling him, " _You're_ my stalker?"

 **BUM BUM BUM! Yeah, I know it's not that surprising because of the description, but I hope the build up to the reveal was still fun. Next time we'll see Ike's reaction to being outed. Also, in case you don't know who Quaid is, he's Filmore's friend from the episode "Trapper Keeper" who occasionally appears alongside him. Just so you know. Please leave a comment and remember that licking doorknobs is illegal on other planets!**


	7. Chapter 7 - Water Wars

**What? Another chapter already? Yeah, I knew exactly what I was going to write for this chapter so I could get it out fairly quickly. Don't expect that all the time, though.**

 **So, how is Ike going to react to Firkle finding out he is the "stalker?" Let's find out!**

 **Chapter 7 – Water Wars**

Ike stared at me in utter shock. He was half way through opening my locker and still had the paper in his hand. He gawked at me. "F-Firkle!" he stuttered, "This isn't what it looks like!"

"Oh yeah?" I scoffed, "Because it looks like you're breaking into my locker to leave me a note. Something my stalker has been doing for months!" I glared at him. "How did you even get my locker combination?"

Ike opened and closed his mouth several times, unable to answer me. He looked at the ground and I hope he felt guilty. I looked at the note in his hand.

"Well? What does your note say?" I demanded.

Giving me a somewhat frightened look, Ike unfolded the paper and held it in slightly shaky hands. "Dear Firkle," he read in a slow voice, "I'm sorry to hear that your life is so hard right now. I'm also sad to hear you say you think no one cares about you. I wanted you to know that I care about you. I want you to be strong and not worry about what those assholes say about you. I'll always stand with you."

The more he read the more I scowled. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I didn't want him to take pity on me. I felt my anger boiling inside me, threatening to explode.

Ike looked at me nervously, waiting for me to say something. But I was afraid if I did I was going to burst. Instead, I opened my locker, grabbed my bag, slammed the door closed, then started to storm away. Immediately, I heard Ike starting to follow me.

"Firkle, wait!" he called, "Where are you going?"

"Where do you think I'm going?" I growled, "I'm going home so I can be away from you! And you'd better not follow me!"

I heard Ike panting slightly with effort to keep up. "B-But I don't get why you're so angry at me!" he whined, "All I did was leave notes in your locker!" I hissed with annoyance as we exited the school and started across the fields.

"Of course you would see nothing wrong with that!" I snapped back at him, "You don't see what a total invasion of privacy it is! How demeaning it is!"

"I was only trying to make you feel better!" he argued.

"I don't want your fucking pity, Ike!" I yelled at him. Ike broke into a jog to keep better pace with me.

"Why do you have to be so stubborn?" he asked, "I'm just trying to help you and you act like I'm the one causing all of your problems!"

"I never asked for your fucking help," I snarled, "I just want to be left alone! By you, by the football team, by the cheerleaders. Why can't anyone understand that? I don't want your stupid notes or candy, and I don't want your help!"

By this time we were crossing through the community pool area where a lot of our classmates were swimming and hanging out. The only reason I went this way was because it was the fastest way to get to my house from the school.

"Does this mean you don't want me to tutor you anymore?" Ike asked as we walked by the pool. I stopped and turned to glare at him.

"As a matter of fact, Ike, I would prefer if you never speak to me again!" I shouted. I may have been a little harsh, and I felt a tinge of remorse when I saw tears coming to Ike's eyes. But it didn't change how violated I felt.

I was about to turn around and continue home when there was a barely audible "heads up," and a millisecond later I was hit in the side of the head with a football. I saw Ike's eyes widen and his mouth open.

" _FIRKLE!_ " he yelled before I toppled over sideways and fell into the pool.

Now, normally I was a strong swimmer and would've easily swam to the surface. But being hit with the football knocked some of the sense out of me and I couldn't do anything as water started to fill my lungs while my arms and legs sat limply and my head throbbed. I should've been panicking; I was drowning after all, but my brain was strangely not giving a shit. I was vaguely aware of things going on around me, but at the same time I felt myself slipping into unconsciousness.

I was aware of someone jumping into the pool after me, and I felt them loop and arm around me. I was pulled to the surface, but I still didn't breathe. My savior dragged me onto the pavement and I was just aware enough to feel them pinch my nose closed and pry my mouth open and cover it with their own. It took two or three rescue breaths before I could finally start forcing the water from my lungs, and I started hacking and coughing. I rolled onto my side to let the water drain out of me. As I did, I heard a sigh beside me.

"Oh thank God you're ok," Ike murmured. Of course it was Ike. It was always Ike.

Slowly, I opened my eyes and saw him kneeling next to me with a relieved look on his face. He was soaking wet so there could be no mystery as to who my rescuer was. Even though there had been at least twenty other people in the pool, he was the only one who had bothered to save me.

Even though I had just gotten done yelling at him.

"Is he all right?" someone asked, and I realized it was the voice of the cheerleader, the one who had a crush on me. I moved my eyes to see where she was and saw her standing with her loser quarterback boyfriend just past Ike. Filmore and Quaid were also next to them.

Filmore was glaring angrily at me and I suddenly had a hunch of who had thrown the football. I noticed Ike turn and glare back at Filmore.

"What the hell did you do that for?" he hissed at the jock.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Filmore replied, trying to sound innocent.

"Don't bullshit me," Ike snapped, "I saw you throw that football at Firkle!"

Filmore shrugged. "I didn't do it on purpose," he insisted, "It's not my fault the idiot doesn't know how to duck."

Ike glared at him, and I'm sure he could've eventually gotten Filmore to admit what he did, but right now I was in a lot of pain and soaked to the bone. I reached up and gently clutched Ike's arm, giving it a squeeze. Ike looked down at me with a concerned look.

"All right, let's get you taken care of," he mumbled. As carefully as he could he helped me to my feet and slung one of my arms around his shoulders. Then we slowly started walking towards the gate while people stood by and watched.

"Where's my bag?" I asked weakly, suddenly realizing I didn't have it.

"Don't worry, I grabbed it," Ike told me. I sighed with relief. All of my textbooks, my homework, my notebooks, and my life works was in there.

"I hope you don't mind, I'm taking you back to my house," Ike informed me, "It's closer and no offense but your family kind of scares me."

"They scare everyone," I muttered, "Especially the twins. The little bastards."

Ike let out a small laugh beside me. We didn't say anything else until we reached Ike's house. He called out a greeting to his parents who were in the kitchen before taking me upstairs to his room. As soon as we got there I went over and collapsed onto his bed, holding the side of my head where I had been struck. I could feel a bump forming there and I cringed slightly.

"How are you feeling?" Ike asked me.

"My head hurts like crazy," I grumbled, "I have a massive headache."

"Let me go get something for that," he offered, "If you'd like, you can use my shower to rinse off the chlorine from the pool and I'll wash your clothes for you. But let me get something for your head first."

He quickly left the room, leaving me lying on his bed. He was back a moment later with some pills and a glass of water. With a small groan of protest, I sat up and took them from him. I swallowed them and drank the whole glass of water.

"Thanks," I muttered.

"You're welcome," Ike said, "Do you need help getting up?"

"No, I can do it," I insisted. As I got up, Ike followed me to the bathroom so he could show me how the shower worked (apparently it was a little temperamental.) Then he stepped out of the room so I could shed my wet clothes. I left them on the toilet so Ike could grab them before stepping into the shower.

Immediate warmth ran through me as hot water drenched me. Why was it that just this week I was practically frozen twice? As I washed myself, getting all the chlorine off my skin and out of my hair, I heard the door open.

"I brought a fresh towel for you," Ike called, "I'll take your clothes downstairs and wash them now."

"Thanks," I mumbled out, too relaxed by the heat of the water to shout.

When I was done, I turned the water off and stepped out. I grabbed the towel Ike brought for me and dried myself as best I could. I thought about using Ike's hairbrush to tame my hair but thought better of it. That's how lice spreads. Instead I just ran my fingers through it to get it in order that way. I wrapped the towel around my waist before going back to Ike's room.

I entered Ike's room where he was holding a pile of clothes out in his arms. He had a slight blush on his face for some reason. I raised an eyebrow at him and he cleared his throat.

"Um, I picked out some clothes you can wear until your own clothes are done washing," he explained. I looked him over.

"Don't you have anything in black?" I wondered. He blinked at me.

"Er, not really," he replied. I let out a long and over dramatic sigh.

" _Fine!_ I'll wear those for now!" I whined. With a sheepish grin, Ike handed me the bundle of clothes. I took them from him and sat down on his bed. I heard Ike take a sharp breath behind me and I turned to look at him.

"What?"

"I uh, didn't know you had a tattoo," he murmured in a slightly awed voice.

"Oh. Yeah, I do," I replied. Frankly I forgot I had gotten a tattoo on my back. For my fifteenth birthday my friends had taken me to this special tattoo parlor where they didn't I.D. people. Plus my friends were regulars at the place.

My tattoo was of a pair of black angel wings starting at my shoulder blades and folded down to around the middle of my back. I liked to think of it as a fallen angel kind of motif.

I didn't let Ike stare at me too long as I started putting on the clothes he pulled out for me. I felt hideous wearing these bright blue colors, but hopefully it wouldn't be for too long. I had to admit, though, Ike's clothes were soft and warm.

"Oh! Before I forget! I brought you an ice pack for your head," Ike told me, turning back around (as he had turned his back to me so he wouldn't see me naked.)

"Um, thank you," I murmured, taking the pack from him. Ike nodded and started to leave the room to take his own shower. But I had something to say first. "Ike!" I called. He stopped and turned to me. I took a breath. "I'm sorry for shouting at you and getting so angry at you earlier. I'm just under a lot of stress and I have a hard time trusting people. I find it hard to believe that anyone actually wants to help me without having some ulterior motive so you just actually caring about me really threw me off and I lashed out at you. I'm sorry."

Ike gave me a gentle smile. "It's all right," he said, "Apology accepted. I know it can be difficult to let people in, especially seeing how bullied you are. But I genuinely want to help you, Firkle. And I would never do anything to hurt you intentionally."

Nodding, I sucked in my breath slightly. "Ike, I still want you to tutor me," I told him, "If I didn't have your help I could just say good-bye to being able to join my friends."

"Of course," he replied, smiling, "I would keep coming around to keep bugging you anyway." He laughed softly before leaving to take his shower.

I watched him go before laying down and resting the ice pack on my head. I hadn't intended to fall asleep, I wanted to be awake for when my clothes were done, but in no time I had passed out on Ike's bed.

 **Geez, that was a wild ride! Firkle's emotions were all over the place, huh? So were Ike's for that matter. I hope I didn't make Firkle seem too nasty at the start of the chapter for you guys. I didn't want him to seem like irredeemable or anything, but you could sort of see where he was coming from? I don't know. Anyway, please tell me what you think!**


	8. Chapter 8 - Goth Bonds

**Seems like Firkle and Ike are getting closer huh? Closer to Ike's ultimate plan! MWA HA HA HA HA HA! Anyway this chapter is also going to have more Firkle and Pete sexiness so look forward to that as well.**

 **Chapter 8 – Goth Bonds**

When I woke up I had trouble remembering where I was for a moment. I mean, I definitely wasn't in my own room. My walls were not white with a slightly blue tinge. And there was no large window that let in this much light. And I don't remember owning a computer. But then I remembered what happened yesterday and I realized I was in Ike's room. And then my next thought was why Ike was so obsessed with the color blue. He wore it all the time and practically everything in his room was some shade of blue.

I looked around and suddenly noticed that Ike wasn't in the room and wondered where could he be. Then I heard voices outside the door in the hallway and quietly got up to listen more closely.

"Whose clothes are these, Ike?" a shrill stereotypical Jewish mom voice rang out, and I assumed it was Ike's mother, "I know you don't own anything like this! They look like something out of a punk magazine!"

"They're my friend's clothes, mom," Ike explained, "I was just washing them for him while he was resting."

"Can't he do his own laundry?" his mother asked, "Seems pretty lazy to me."

I could practically see Ike rolling his eyes in my mind. "I'm pretty sure he can," he argued, "But he was hit in the head with a football yesterday and fell into a pool and almost drowned. So I was just doing him a favor by bringing him back here and letting him rest while I did his laundry for him. Is that so wrong?"

His mother paused and I could imagine Ike giving her a small glare.

"Who is this friend, anyway?" she asked eventually, "This doesn't look like anything any of your usual friends wear."

"Um, his name is… Georgie," he replied, and I winced. I hated my real name. "Georgie Smith. He's in a bunch of my classes so we started hanging out."

I heard his mother make a few grunting noises before the sound of footsteps walking away. I went back and sat back down on the bed just as Ike entered the room. He looked a little annoyed but his face lit up when he saw me.

"Oh good! You're awake!" he said, "Your clothes are all clean and dry now!" He held them out for me with a small smile.

"Thanks," I said, reaching out and taking them from him. I watched as he walked around and crawled back into bed with me. I sighed slightly. "Your mom doesn't like me," I noted.

Ike frowned and slumped down. "Oh, you heard that," he muttered, "Don't take it personally. My mom is very over protective. She's very choosey about who I hang out with, ever since my brother Kyle chose to associate with that racist, anti-Semitic prick, Cartman. He's not friend's with him anymore, thankfully, but it still caused my mom to be over bearing about my own friends." He looked over at me and gave me a sheepish grin. "Um, sorry about using your real name. But I thought my mom would be more accepting of that name than your goth name."

"It's all right," I sighed, "I just really don't like my name."

"I think it's a nice name," he said.

"I hate it," I grunted, getting up so I could get changed. Ike rolled over to give me some privacy. It felt good to be in my regular black clothes again. Not only were Ike's too bright for me but they were also a little big on me. When I had changed, I plopped back down onto Ike's bed next to him. He rolled over and looked at me.

"How are you feeling this morning?" he asked me.

"A lot better," I replied, "My headache is gone. And the bump on my head is almost completely gone."

"That's good," Ike sighed, "I was hoping that Filmore didn't seriously injure you."

"I don't know why that asshole hates me so much," I muttered, "He joined the football team after the rest of the team already started picking on me. I didn't do anything to him! In yet he insists on constantly attacking me."

Ike frowned and scooched closer to me. "I wish there was something more I could do for you," he said in a low voice, "It sucks that so many people pick on you all the time."

"You think I don't know that?" I muttered, "I don't know why people don't understand that all I want is to be left alone. Is that so hard?"

I felt Ike lightly press against me. Why was this kid so insistent on being so close to me? Didn't he know the meaning of personal space? I sighed slightly as I felt him press a little closer.

"Um, Ike I think I'm gonna go now," I told him, "I'm feeling a lot better now. Thank you for taking care of me." I got up to leave but Ike suddenly put a hand on my arm.

"Er, I was actually wondering, um, you know, if um…" he started stumbling over his words and I rolled my eyes.

"Can you just spit it out, please?" I muttered. He took a deep breath.

"Can I please kiss you again?" he asked. I felt myself stiffen.

"Why?" I wondered, "Haven't you asked that girl out yet? Who is she anyway?"

For some reason Ike looked panicked for a few moments and he started stuttering. I raised my eyebrow at him and I couldn't decide if it looked like he was having trouble remembering her name, was embarrassed by who it was, or had been lying to me and was struggling to think of someone to name.

I decided it was probably the second one. The other two were just ridiculous.

Finally, though, he answered me. "Sally Bands," he said, "That's the girl I wanted to ask out." My eyebrow shot up again.

"Sally Bands?" I repeated, "Wow. She's hot. And totally out of your league."

"I know! That's why I want to practice first!" Ike argued, "I want to make sure I'm good enough for her before I ask her out!"

I scoffed. "Yeah, like you'll ever be good enough for her," I sneered. Ike sighed and rolled his eyes.

"So, can I kiss you or not?" he wondered.

"If you really think it'll help in your pathetic cause, fine," I replied.

Trying not to look too excited, Ike scooched closer to me so that he was right in front of me. Then he rested a hand on my arm before leaning in and kissing me deeply. I was grateful that this time he didn't feel the need to push me onto my back. It was annoying when he did that. He had his eyes closed and massaged his lips against mine slowly and sensually. He was really starting to get into it and it made me wonder, not for the first time, if he had forgotten that I was the one he was kissing.

I cringed slightly when I felt him start sucking on my bottom lip before licking at it. I presumed he wanted me to open my mouth so he could stick his tongue inside, but there was no way in Hell I was doing that. But apparently he didn't care what I thought, because he forced his tongue into my mouth anyway. Ike moaned gently as he did so, reaching up to grip the back of my neck. I made a noise of protest, but he ignored me and wrapped his other arm around my back. He sighed gently into my mouth which made me rather annoyed. Was he always going to get this intimate when he kissed me?

After what seemed like forever, Ike slowly pulled away, his lips hovering by mine a moment more before he opened his eyes and backed away, a slight blush on his face. He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Um, thank you Firkle," he murmured, "That was, um, nice."

"Yup," I replied, even though I really didn't do anything. "Did you need anything else before I go? You want me to lay down so you can practice having sex as well?"

Ike's face started turning as red as a tomato at that comment. He started sputtering out an embarrassed reply, causing me to chuckle. I decided to save him some face.

"All right, see you tomorrow Ike," I said, still fighting back laughter as I picked up my bag and left the room. I had to get back to my house and see what damage had been done to my books and homework.

A moment later, though, the door opened again and Ike rushed over to me. "Actually, Firkle, I could drive you home if you wanted," he offered. I looked at him.

"I didn't know you could drive," I replied, "I've only seen you walk everywhere."

"Well, yeah, I prefer to walk if it's just a short distance, but I figured I should at least offer just in case your head isn't completely better," Ike explained, "I would hate myself if you got hurt on your way home."

I considered his words for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, all right," I said, "Beats walking, that's for sure. And this way I can home sooner and sulk in my lair for the rest of the day."

Ike gave me a weird look but didn't say anything as he brushed past me and lead the way to the front door. But of course nothing could be easy, because on the way we ran into his mom. We were almost out the door, too.

"Oh Ike! Where are you off to?" she asked him, then she spotted me and frowned slightly, "And who's this?"

"Um, mom this is my friend, Georgie," Ike explained and I cringed slightly. I still hated that he was using my real name, but now his mom saw who I really was. And judging by the look on her face, she liked me even less than I thought she would.

"I was just going to drive him home really quick," Ike continued, "He's still a bit dizzy from yesterday and I didn't think it was safe for him to walk home."

"Well aren't you a good boy, bubby?" she cooed, suddenly lighting up when she turned back to him, "Well be home soon, please. I want to have a chat with you when you get back."

"Yes, mother," Ike said obediently. Then we both quickly left the house.

I think the car Ike drove was a family car, not his own, because it was an SUV, but he clearly had some say in it because it was blue (of course!) I got into the front seat as Ike hopped into the driver's side and started it up. We were quiet as we started driving down the lane.

Eventually, though, I let out a deep breath. "Ike," I said in a low voice, "How come you and that stupid cheerleader are the only ones who don't hate me?"

Ike glanced at me from the corners of his eyes. "What do you mean?" he wondered.

"Well, I know my friends don't hate me, obviously," I explained, "But seems like everyone I meet just doesn't like me as soon as they meet me. I haven't said a word to your mother, but she was glaring at me the whole time. They act like just because I'm dressed like this I'm a terrible person and should treat me horribly before I get the chance to. Everyone… except for you."

Ike was silent for a moment. He opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it again. "I guess… I'm just not like everyone else," he said eventually, "My brother taught me never to judge someone based on appearances and stereotypes. And even though you and your friends were into some dark things, you never really seemed that bad."

"Heh, thanks," I replied.

It wasn't very long before we pulled up to my house. I was about to get out, but before I could, Ike leaned over and caught me in tight hug. My breath stuck in my throat for a moment as he held me. A minute later he let me go.

"What was that for?" I asked. He shrugged.

"I don't know. You just looked like you really needed a hug," he answered, "You know Firkle, if you want someone to talk to or complain to, I'll always listen."

I stared at him for a moment before giving him a small nod. Then I got out of the car and watched Ike drive away. When I turned around to go inside I was quite surprised to find Pete standing on the porch, staring up at my house. He was half way through a cigarette.

"Pete?" I called, walking up to him, "What are you doing here?"

My friend spun around and smiled slightly when he saw me. "Oh hey, Firkle," he greeted pleasantly, "Your parents told me you weren't home so I waited around for you. Can I spend the night here?"

"Uh, sure you can," I replied, "But may I ask why?"

Pete let out a sigh. "Michael and I had a huge fight and I just can't be around him right now," he replied, "Please don't ask. It's complicated."

As I reached him I noticed he had his backpack with him. I wondered how long he planned to stay with me, but I didn't ask. Instead, I brushed past him and opened the front door and lead him inside.

I didn't bother to tell my parents I was home. I doubt they even noticed I was missing during the night. I also didn't want to alert the twins and have them bother me, but of course they found me anyway.

"Hey Georgie!" Timmy shouted at the top of his lungs, "Where were you yesterday!? We wanted to play but you weren't here!"

Tammy was bouncing around Pete and smiling up at him. "You're hot!" she exclaimed, "I want to marry you and we can have fifty children!"

Pete stared down at the annoying little hell spawn with wide eyes. "Oh…um, ok," he muttered. I rolled my eyes and grabbed his arm.

"Fuck off you demon jizz!" I hissed at them, dragging my friend away. We quickly retreated up to my room before my stupid siblings could follow us. I made sure to lock the door behind us.

Pete walked over to my bed and plopped down onto it. He leaned back on my bed with his arms behind his head and looked at me.

"So, where were you?" he asked, "You're not the type to just leave for no reason and not tell anyone."

I sighed and walked over to sit next to him on the bed. "Yesterday when I was walking home from school, I got hit in the head with a football and fell into a pool and almost drowned," I explained, "Ike fished me out and took care of me and I spent the night at his house."

"Jeez, why didn't you call any of us?" Pete wondered.

"Um… my phone may be at the bottom of the pool," I muttered. Then I remembered something. "Oh yeah, I finally found out who my stalker is."

Pete perked up with interest. "Oh yeah? Who was it?" he asked.

"It was Ike," I told him, "Apparently he's been following me around and leaving me notes and stuff. I got mad at him at first but I forgave him after he rescued me."

"You know, I had a feeling it was Ike," Pete said, "He seemed to be strangely obsessed with you recently." I gave him a confused look.

"What do you mean?" I questioned. Pete looked at me.

"Are you-? Um, never mind," he sighed. He sat up and pulled his backpack onto the bed. "Hey, you want to smoke some more weed with me?"

"Yeah, I'm up for it," I replied, "After the crazy week I've had I could really use this."

Pete smirked at me before pulling out the stuff. I watched him expertly roll a joint and hand it to me. I thanked him and took out my lighter, lighting it up, and taking a long drag. I felt myself starting to relax instantly, just like last time.

"Hey Firkle," Pete suddenly said, "Would you mind terribly if I took my shirt off? I figured I'd ask you first if it made you uncomfortable."

Though a slight blush came to my face, I shook my head. "No, I don't mind," I said, "I don't know why you'd want to. It's rather cold in here."

Pete ignored my last statement and started undoing his shirt before pulling it off and dropping it on the floor. Then he silently slipped off his bolero as well and set it on the nightstand, leaning over me as he did.

I wasn't entirely uncomfortable with seeing my friend topless. The four of us were very open and comfortable around each other when it came to our bodies. Though I've never seen Michael or Pete nude before, I have seen them without shirts. I knew Pete had a tattoo of a raven on his back and Michael's body had various tattoos that meant a bunch of random things. Both of them had seen me without a shirt on; they had been there when I got my back tattoo. The only one of my friends who had seen me completely naked though, was Henrietta. And the only friend I've seen naked is Henrietta.

And it wasn't in a sexual way that we viewed each other. It was because of a cruel prank that had been pulled on me that we saw each other. During one of my solo visits to the cemetery, someone found it funny to dump a gallon of blood on me a la Carrie and run away. I never found out who it was. But anyway Henrietta's house was closest to the cemetery, and I was freaking out so badly that I just ran to her. When she saw me covered in blood, she didn't ask any questions and simply brought me upstairs to her bathroom. She stripped me of my clothes and had me stand in the shower so she could start rinsing me off. I was fourteen at the time and I didn't really question it when she also shed her clothes and got into the shower with me. I didn't care that I was seeing my friend's breasts. All that mattered was that she was taking care of me.

Well, that got way off track. My point is I'm not uncomfortable with Pete taking his shirt off. Though I noticed that goosebumps were starting form on his skin. I looked at him.

"Are you sure you don't want to put your shirt back on?" I wondered.

"No, no, I'm fine," Pete insisted, taking another hit. I rolled my eyes.

"If you say so," I said. I took another hit from my joint and laid down before blowing out a lungful of smoke. Pete laid down next to me, his arm brushing against mine. I couldn't help but shiver slightly as he did so.

"Are you all right?" Pete asked me.

"Yeah," I said, "Just a chill."

Pete sat up slightly and looked down at me. I was about to ask if something was wrong when he reached an arm across my torso to grip my shoulder. Then he leaned down and softly kissed my lips. My breath caught in my throat for a moment before I slowly started kissing him back. I had no idea what had suddenly brought this on, but Pete was a good kisser, so I wasn't going to complain.

He gently kissed me over and over, caressing my lips in a tender way that made my spine tingle. As we kissed, I felt Pete slowly inch his way on top of me. He reached up and ran a hand through my hair. The feeling of his fingers in my hair made me sigh in pleasure, and the moment I opened my mouth, Pete took the opportunity to slip his tongue inside. Tingling, I threw my arms around him, pressing him closer to me. I started running my hand up and down his back, which made Pete shudder.

"Firkle," he breathed, pulling his mouth away an inch, "Don't do that! You're turning me on!" I smirked at him.

"Well maybe you should put your shirt back on then," I remarked.

"Smartass," he hissed at me before leaning down and capturing my lips again.

We kissed and kissed until eventually Pete rolled off of me, breathing hard. I chose to ignore the small tent he had going in his pants, after all he had said I was turning him on with my actions. I laid next to him, panting slightly. That kissing had really taken a lot out of me.

"Hey," Pete said after a moment, "Thanks for letting me stay here tonight. I really appreciate it."

I gave him a small smile. "Any time," I replied.

 **I'm going to end the chapter here because this chapter is getting really long. A lot longer than I meant it to be. Next chapter will start with Pete and Firkle but we're also going to get Ike's decision about the party. Trust me, you're going to want to see that. Anyway, until next time be sure to leave a comment!**


	9. Chapter 9 - Ike's Idea

**So Pete is staying at Firkle's house. Sexy? Anyway let's see what happens with Ike as well. What is he going to do about the party? Wouldn't you like to know?**

 **Chapter 9 – Ike's Idea**

When I woke the next morning, Pete was still asleep next to me. He also still wasn't wearing a shirt. He had his back turned to me, giving me the perfect view of his raven tattoo. It was a bit like one of those Hena tribal tattoos or something, were it was a design of a raven rather than an actual picture. Tentatively, I reached out a finger and lightly started tracing it.

As soon as I touched his skin I felt him shiver. I ignored it and continued tracing the tattoo until he gave a great shudder and rolled over to face me. I gave him a small smile.

"Morning, sleepy," I greeted. He gave me an amused grin.

"I've had more creepy ways of being woken in the morning, but this one is up there," he told me. My smile widened.

"Really? What other ways have you been woken?" I asked.

"I'm not going to tell you, you creepy little perv!" he exclaimed, putting a hand on my face and shoving me. I nearly fell off the bed.

"Are you going to put your shirt back on now?" I asked him as I got up. He shrugged as I walked over to my vanity and started reapplying my make-up.

"What? I don't turn you on, Firkle?" he wondered, wiggling his eyebrow at me. I smirked and rolled my eyes.

"Don't take it personally, Pete," I said, "No one turns me on."

It was very quiet, but I swore I heard him mutter, "Uh-huh, sure."

As I finished putting on my make-up, I heard Pete put his shirt back on and pack up his stuff. "Hey, you want me to drive you to school, and maybe pick up some breakfast along the way?" he offered.

"That would be great, actually," I replied, "It would give me time to redo all the homework that got ruined by the pool. And hopefully replace my textbooks."

"Do you have money for lunch?" Pete wondered as I gathered up my stuff.

"No. I usually just take money from my mom's purse when she's not looking," I explained. Pete looked at me, then dug into his backpack and pulled out his wallet.

"Here," he said, handing me some money, "Use this." I waved my hands at him.

"No, Pete, I couldn't," I objected.

"Seriously, I insist," Pete said, shoving the money into my hands, "I don't want you to starve. It'll make me feel better." I sighed slightly.

"All right. I'll take your money," I told him, "But I'm not happy about it."

We almost made it out the door incident free, but somehow Tammy sensed that we were leaving and that Pete was coming with me and she managed to latch herself onto his waist and torso and wouldn't let go until I smacked her with a newspaper. We left before she could cry for mom and dad.

Because of Pete, I arrived at school half an hour earlier than I usually would. Plus I didn't already feel starving. Maybe I should get my friends to drive me to school more often. I would drive myself, but my parents wouldn't let me get a license.

I went to my homeroom to attempt to start redoing my homework. It was almost the weekend and I didn't have a lot of time left to get it done. Hopefully my teachers would understand about my textbooks. They were totally ruined by the pool.

But then I got to my extra notebooks, the ones where I kept my writings and I grew furious and also depressed. My poems, my stories, my life's work… they were all ruined. In frustration, I threw my bag on the floor and slammed my head on my desk.

Fuck that Filmore! Why did he have to do this to me? Why did he hate me so much?! If he had a problem with me he should just come out and say it!

I still had my head in my arms and I didn't look up when I heard someone else come in. Knowing my luck, I was pretty sure I knew who it was already, especially when I heard them sit next to me. He was in my homeroom after all.

"Firkle?" Ike said in a concerned voice, "Are you ok?"

"No," I muttered, "I finally looked inside my bag and found out that everything is ruined. My homework, my textbooks, my poems, my stories. Everything. I'm so frustrated!" I had lifted my head to speak and immediately put it back down.

I felt Ike reach over and put a hand on my back. I expected him to say something encouraging, but he didn't. We sat there in silence for a few minutes before he suddenly sighed.

"I'm sorry, Firkle," he murmured, "I feel like it's my fault you got knocked into the pool and your stuff got ruined."

"Why would it be your fault?" I wondered, lifting my head.

"Because if I hadn't been stalking you, as you put it, you wouldn't have gotten mad at me and stormed off like that," he explained solemnly. I sat up and looked at him.

"Ike, don't blame yourself for that," I told him, "I would have gone that way anyway, even if we hadn't fought."

He seemed to feel a little better at my words, but I was still miserable. I huffed in annoyance. "When I see Filmore again I'm going to kill him," I growled.

"Won't that get you into trouble?" Ike asked.

"I don't care," I hissed, "If I do get in trouble, at least Filmore will be dead first."

Ike gave me a sad look and reached out to put a hand on my arm, but before he could, the door slammed open, startling us. Filmore and Quaid came in and walked over to Ike, completely ignoring me. The asshole slammed his hands down on Ike's desk while his lackey stood next to me. Filmore grinned at Ike.

"So, Ike, have you decided about the party yet?" the jerk asked. Ike sucked on his teeth.

"I don't know," Ike muttered, "I really don't do parties."

"Come on, Ike!" Quaid begged, "It won't be the same without you! Everyone will be there! Along with a ton of girls!"

Ike pursed his lips and looked down at his desk. Then he looked at me. I raised an eyebrow at him. This seemed make him come to a decision. He turned to Filmore.

"All right, I'll go to Mirabelle's party," he decided. As Filmore and Quaid cheered, he held up a hand to stop them. "On one condition."

"What's that?" Filmore wondered.

"I'll go… if I can bring Firkle with me," he announced.

 _"WHAT?!"_ Filmore, Quaid, and I all shouted at the same time.

"Ike, are you crazy?" I hissed at him, "I don't want to go to some bitch's party!"

"And we don't this loser at the party!" Filmore added, then muttered something under his breath that I couldn't hear.

Ike folded his arms stubbornly. "Well that's too bad," he said, "If Firkle can't go, then I'm not going."

Filmore bit his lower lip then glared at me as if this was somehow my fault. Finally, he let out an annoyed groan. "Fine!" he snapped, "We'll let Dorkle come to the party, even though he's just going to drag the whole thing down!"

"Fuck you!" I growled, "I don't even want to go to your dumbass party!"

Filmore sneered at me before he and Quaid walked away. Ike turned to me and desperately grabbed my arm. "Firkle! Please go to this party with me!" he begged. I snorted with a brisk laugh.

"Why should I?" I scoffed.

"I don't want to go to this party either," he explained, "But I know Filmore will somehow make me go whether I want to or not. I figured if I had someone else who doesn't like parties with me maybe it won't be so bad."

"Ike, we're not even really friends," I reminded him, "We're acquaintances at best. Why can't you just hang out with your own friends? Filmore said they'd be there."

Blushing slightly, Ike looked down. "Well, yes, they are," he said, "But my friends are party animals. They can get wild and I really don't want to deal with that. I would like someone sane with me."

I sighed loudly. "I don't even know who this Mirabelle is," I pointed out. Ike blinked at me in confusion.

"Are you serious?" he asked, "Firkle, Mirabelle is the head cheerleader who has a crush on you. You know, the quarterback's girlfriend?"

I stared back at him. "I didn't realize she had a name," I confessed shyly. I could tell by the look on Ike's face he was trying hard not to facepalm.

"Anyway, this just means I have even more of a reason not to go," I continued, "I don't want that bitch following me around the whole time, trying to hit on me, while her boyfriend tries to beat me up."

"What if I was with you the whole time?" Ike asked, "I wouldn't leave your side for the entire party, and I'd make sure Mirabelle and Filmore and everyone else you hate would stay away from you for the whole thing."

I bit my lower lip and looked down. I really didn't want to do this. Why should I sacrifice a perfectly good Saturday to hangout with a bunch of people I didn't know or like? Plus I hated loud music, alcohol, dancing, games, social interaction, and pretty much anything else that went on at a party.

While I was pondering, I felt Ike nudge me. "Please, Firkle?" he begged, "I know you're an introvert and don't like large groups of people, but I think maybe it would be good for you to try something new for once. And we don't have to stay for very long. Maybe half an hour, an hour tops. If you really start freaking out we can leave even sooner."

I looked at him from the corner of my eyes and sighed heavily. "Fine! I'll come with you to this stupid party!" I finally relented, "But I'm not going to enjoy it!"

Ike smiled at me. "Oh trust me. I'm not either," he said.

…

"Wait, you're actually going to that party?" Henrietta asked in disbelief, "You didn't just tell Ike that to get him off your back?"

I shook my head. My friends and I were in Michael and Pete's dorm room. I was glad to see that whatever it was that Pete and Michael had been fighting about appeared to have passed. Though, Pete did still look a little weary.

"I figured if I try to blow him off he'll just drag me from my room," I said, "It's not like I want to go to this. But I figure this way he can't ask me for any more favors. Besides, he promised we wouldn't stay very long and that he would stay by my side the whole time."

From where he sat on his bed, Michael clicked his tongue. "I wonder why he wanted you to go with him in the first place," he mused, "He has other friends. Doesn't that seem rather odd to you?"

"Yeah," I replied, "He said his friends are too wild for him and he wanted someone calm to go with him or some shit like that. I don't know if I really believed him or not. I don't believe half the thing that come out of his mouth."

"So, who's throwing this party?" Pete wondered.

"The cheerleader chick who has a crush on me," I told him, "Apparently her name is Mirabelle."

"Wait, she has a name?" Henrietta was just as surprised as I had been.

"Hold on, if this chick is the one throwing the party, doesn't that mean her boyfriend and all the football players will be there?" Pete asked me. I nodded and he suddenly grew pale. "Firkle, I don't know if I'm comfortable with you going to that party."

Suddenly, I felt an angsty rebellious side of me starting to take hold of me and I cocked my head. "Why not?" I wondered, sounding slightly affronted.

"Those football players hate you, remember?" Pete explained, "And there's bound to be alcohol at this party. Alcohol has a way of stirring up negative emotions," I couldn't help but notice his eyes glanced over at Michael as he said this, "And whipping people into a frenzy. Firkle, if you go to that party, they might try to kill you."

I felt my heart pounding in my chest at his words. Now that I thought about it, yes, the football team might try to kill me if they got drunk enough. Or they might do the thing that I feared even worse than death. What they had already done to me and scarred me for a lifetime, leaving me with nightmares of what they did.

Suddenly, I grew very afraid. What if the football team did decide they wanted to do it again? I doubt anyone at the party would care and Ike would definitely not be enough to stop them if they wanted to remind me of the reason why I never told on them. My eyes grew wide as horrible memories flashed through my mind. A terrible shudder raked through my body.

"Firkle!" Michael shouted, snapping me out of my daze. I blinked rapidly and shook my head. Pete and Henrietta were also staring at me.

"Huh?" I asked.

"Are you all right?" Henrietta asked with concern, "You looked really scared there for a moment. It was like you were having one of those waking nightmares or something."

"Sorry," I muttered, "Pete, you're right about the football players, but I already promised Ike I would go with him. I promise I'll be all right."

Pete gave me a worried look before sighing. "Fine," he murmured, "Just… text us every ten minutes to let us know you're okay, all right? And if anything goes wrong we'll be there in an instant to bail you out."

"Or more likely I'll be there in an instant," Henrietta corrected.

After I went home for the night, I couldn't help but wonder why it was Pete in particular who was so worried about me. When I went to sleep, I had a nightmare about the football team and what they did to me in that shower room.

 **I was going to put the party in this chapter, but that would make it way too long. So unfortunately you have to wait one more chapter. Sorry! In the meantime, some strange stuff is going on, huh? Have any ideas about any of it? Let me know in a comment!**


	10. Chapter 10 - The Sucky Ass Party

**It's party time, yo! And Firkle and Ike are not going to like one moment of it. Let's see what drama unfolds in the meantime.**

 **By the way, no, the quarterback is never going to get a name.**

 **Chapter 10 – The Sucky Ass Party**

I had never been to a party before, so I didn't really know what to wear or to expect. My usual dress was on the formal side so I decided to dress more casually. I picked out a pull over shirt as opposed to my familiar button up tops, and some light pants. All of it black of course. I knew there were going to be a lot of people at this party and I didn't want to get over heated. I put my new phone in my pants pocket remembering my promise to text my friends throughout.

When I finished putting on my makeup, there was a beep outside my house and I sighed. That would be Ike who had agreed to give me a ride to the party. I quickly ran outside to where he waited for me and climbed into the front seat.

"Hey," Ike greeted me, "How are you feeling?"

"Nervous," I admitted, "I really don't want to do this. Pete kind of made me paranoid yesterday."

"Yeah, I'm not really up to it either," Ike muttered, "This party is going to suck."

"We could just ditch it and hang out somewhere else together," I suggested. Ike grinned at me as he started down the street.

"That sounds really tempting, actually," he said, "But I have a feeling Filmore would hunt us down and drag us to the party."

"He would hunt you down at least," I pointed out, "He's like obsessed with you. I think he would prefer it if I didn't show up."

Ike nodded in agreement, keeping his eyes on the road. I slumped back in my seat slightly with a sigh. "I think Filmore might have a crush on you," I said. Beside me, Ike shuddered.

"Ugh, don't say that," he mumbled, "I couldn't stand the thought of Filmore having a crush on me."

I couldn't help but snicker at him. "Well, now you know how I feel," I said.

We arrived at Mirabelle's house shortly after that. Actually, it was more of a mansion, because of course the bitch had to be rich. Ike parked across the street and walked next to me as we crossed the road. The party was already in full swing and we could hear music blaring inside. I did not want to go in there.

Beside me, Ike sighed. "Come on, let's get this over with," he muttered.

"Said every girl Filmore has ever been with," I remarked. Ike looked at me with amazement as I grinned at him. "Yeah, I can make jokes. As long as it's at someone else's expense."

Ike started laughing and leaned on me slightly to remain standing. When he was done, he wiped his eye then gently took my arm to lead me inside. There was so much chaos going on inside. There were random couples either making out on couches or grinding on each other while dancing. It was clear that almost everyone was drunk or buzzed. There was barely an inch of space to breathe. Anyone who wasn't dancing, making out, or drinking were playing juvenile party games that people still tried to insist were "cool" and "relevant" like spin the bottle and truth or dare. The very few people who were left who weren't doing any of those things were just sitting or standing around and chatting with their friends. I already felt my anxiety starting to rise and really wished I had remembered to grab my cigarettes before I left.

"Ike, there you are!" a voice called from somewhere, "We heard you were coming, but we didn't actually think you would! Come join us, man!"

And just like that, Ike vanished. He was no longer by my side, and I had no idea which way he had went. I felt myself beginning to panic, and I had just got here!

"Ike?" I called. But it was so loud in here there was no way he would hear me. I needed to get outside and get some fresh air.

I had planned to just turn around and go back out the front door, but somehow I got disoriented and no longer knew where it was. Don't judge me! This house was fucking massive and there were so many damn people! I also tried to keep my eyes open for Ike, but since I was quite a bit shorter than everyone here, it made my job a lot harder.

People kept bumping into me and pushing me and I had no idea where I was. At one point I was nearly pushed over a balcony overlooking the main room and _how the hell did I end up on the second floor?_ I didn't even remember going up any stairs!

As I overlooked the first floor trying to see if I couldn't find Ike from this vantage point, I was suddenly yanked away with back of my collar, causing me to choke. Someone dragged me away and slammed me against a wall. When I opened my eyes, I was horrified to see the quarterback pinning my shoulders down, his face mere inches from my own. I could smell the alcohol on his breath.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he growled at me, "You'd better not be after my girlfriend!"

"Relax," I told him, trying to regain my breath, "I came here with Ike. I was invited. I'm just trying to find where Ike went."

The brute glared at me. "You'd better not be lying, punk," he hissed, "Because if I catch you with my girl, you know what will happen." He reached one hand down and I heard the sound of his zipper being undone. My breath hitched when a moment later I felt something hard rubbing gently up and down my leg.

"You know what's the best thing about parties?" he murmured in my ear, "It's so loud in here that if I do pound ya, no one will hear you scream."

He punctuated this with a swift bite to my neck and a blow to my stomach that had me crumbling to the floor in pain. He snickered at me as he zipped his pants up and walked away.

I sat on the floor, trying to get my breath back and stop myself from remembering those horrible memories. Eventually I managed to stand up and I went back to the railing to try to find Ike again. Of course, at this point he could be in an entirely different part of the house.

I was about to consider finding some stairs so I could just try to get outside when I felt two people suddenly press up against me. I hissed with annoyance to see that it was Filmore and Quaid. Two of the last people I wanted to see.

"What do you guys want?" I asked, sighing with annoyance.

"Keep your eyeliner on, Dorkle," Filmore sneered, "We just wanted to see if you were enjoying yourself."

"Pah! Yeah right!" I spat, "What about any of this is supposed to be fun? There's barely enough room to breathe!"

As I was speaking, I suddenly felt something lightly brushing my side. Without turning my head, I moved my eyes down to see Quaid gently rubbing my side with the back of his knuckles. The action made me incredibly confused. Why was he doing this? Was he threatening me? I really didn't get it.

"I don't see Ike anywhere," Filmore was speaking again, "Where is he?"

"You tell me," I muttered, "As soon as we got here someone dragged him off and I haven't seen him since." Quaid's knuckles very subtly pressed harder into my side.

Filmore scoffed. "Then what am I doing standing here talking to you for?" he wondered.

"That's I want to know," I retorted. Filmore glared at me then snapped his fingers.

"Come on, Quaid," he ordered, "We don't want to be seen hanging out with this loser." He turned on his heel and started walking away. Before Quaid followed him, he suddenly ran a hand up my back, making me tremble, before pinching the back of my neck, which caused me to gasp loudly. I watched them go, wondering what the hell that was about.

I let out a sigh and pulled out my phone. I decided to text Ike, asking him where he was and telling him I was on the second floor. I didn't know if he would hear his phone, but hopefully he would feel his phone. Then I shot a text to my friends expressing how much I was hating this party.

I started trying to find my way to the stairs again. I had finally found them and was about to go downstairs, but because my life is never easy, my path was suddenly blocked by two people I had never seen before. They both smiled at me and continued to be in my way, even when I tried to step around them.

"Um, excuse me, you're in my way," I pointed out what was painfully obvious.

"Hey there, cutie pie," the girl cooed at me, "We haven't seen you around before. Do you go to South Park?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yes," I remarked, "I just happen to like my privacy. Now get out of my way. Now."

"Ooh, a feisty one," the guy hummed, "My girl and I like that. How about you come with us, handsome? We'll make you feel real nice."

"I'd rather not," I muttered, backing away as they slowly advanced on me.

"Aw? What's the matter? Have someone in your life already?" the girl wondered, "Don't worry, we won't tell."

"No," I hissed, "I just don't want to do anything with people I don't know."

"Well, we can fix that," the guy murmured, "We can get to know each other very well."

I took another step and suddenly found myself backed against a wall. The two invaded my space to prevent my escape. They each pinned one of my arms down so I couldn't move as they pressed up against me.

"Let go of me!" I growled.

"Hmm… why would we do that?" the girl asked, "We're just getting to know each other a little better. Is that so wrong?"

"Mmm… I wonder how your lips taste?" Before I could retort, the guy started kissing me deeply on the mouth while the girl started kissing my neck.

Immediately all the air left my body. Why were these people kissing me? I didn't even know them! And what were they planning on doing with me? I think I got my answer when the girl slid her hand under my shirt, causing me to tremble. The guy forced his tongue into my mouth, making me choke. How much longer was my suffering going to last? Someone please help me!

"Hey!" a voice suddenly shouted, "Suzy! Brett! Get away from him!"

The two unlatched themselves from me in surprise and we looked over to where Ike stood glaring at them. With relief, I pushed past my assaulters and rushed over to him, where I hid behind his back.

"Ooh Ike! You know this cutie pie?" the girl squealed.

"Ike, you know these two?" I asked nervously. Ike looked back at me.

"Barely," he replied, "They're more of acquaintances. Some friends of my friends." He turned back to the two. "Stay away from him, you perverts. He's with me!"

The two assholes frowned and sadly shuffled away. I sighed with relief.

"I'm so glad you found me before they managed to do anything," I muttered, "I was afraid that they were about to drag me off to some bedroom or something."

But then I remembered his broken promise and shoved him away. "Where were you?" I growled, "I've been looking all over for you and you promised you wouldn't leave my side!"

"I'm sorry!" Ike said, "My friends dragged me away! I tried to find you, but you must have gotten turned around by all the people! Are you all right?"

I forced a heavy sigh. "I'm feeling extremely claustrophobic," I admitted, "I've been trying to find my way outside but this place is so huge and confusing I don't even know where I am or where I've been!"

Ike walked over and pressed against my side. "Come on. Let's try and find the backyard together," he suggested, "I could use some fresh air myself."

With Ike with me I had to reluctantly admit I was feeling a lot calmer. He had an arm looped around my own so we wouldn't get separated in the crowd. Finally we managed to find our way to the backyard, where there were far less people than inside. I could actually breath out here. I took a deep breath of the still night air, letting it fill my lungs. Oh, it felt so good.

The backyard was rather large (of course) with a wooden porch that stepped off into a perfectly well-kept lawn surrounded by a white picket fence. I walked to the edge of the porch and sat down, with Ike sitting next to me. I was so relieved to be in the nice cool air, I didn't even care that he was leaning on me slightly.

"So, how's the party been for you so far?" he asked.

"Miserable," I grumbled, "My anxiety is so high, I want to smoke so badly, but I forgot my cigarettes." I was surprised when Ike suddenly pulled a single one from his pocket and offered it to me. I stared at him in shock.

"Where did you get that?" I wondered.

"I bummed one off one of my friends," he explained with a shrug, "Or, actually he offered me one and I was too much of a wimp to turn it down. But if smoking really does ease your anxiety, then I'm glad I kept it for you."

I took it from him with a word of thanks and pulled out my lighter (that's right, I remembered my lighter but not my cigarettes! Stupid me.) I lit it and took a deep breath, filling my mouth and lungs with smoke before exhaling, making sure to blow it away from Ike. A sense of calm washed over me.

"You know, I don't smoke as often as I used to," I found myself telling Ike, "I used to smoke like two or three packs a day. But now I'll only smoke a full pack on a bad day. I only smoke one or two cigarettes with my friends and when I get stressed."

My companion looked at me as I spoke. "Are you thinking of quitting permanently?" he wondered. I shrugged.

"Eh, I don't know," I replied honestly, "Maybe if I had a little more motivation. My friends don't smoke any less than they did when we were in elementary school, so it doesn't seem like they're willing to give up the habit. Maybe if I had something else to relieve my stress that didn't involve drugs."

"If you'd like, I could help you sometime," Ike offered, "I'm sure we could find something that you could pull out in an instant to calm your anxiety instead of cigarettes."

I let out a small laugh. "I'll think about it," I promised, "For now though, I'm just sticking to these. It's better than what my mom wanted to do which was put me on all sorts of medications which would cost lots of money and have all sorts of side effects."

Ike opened his mouth as if to say something, but then thought better of it. "So, now that you've calmed down, how was the party?" he asked.

"Still terrible," I replied, "I somehow ended up on the second floor while looking for you. Then I was threatened by the quarterback. Then Filmore and Quaid felt the need to bother me. And those two perverts practically assaulted me before you showed up." I sighed and took another drag on my cigarette. "What about you?"

"Not much better, really," he answered, "Well, probably better comparatively, but still. My friends kept trying to get me to play a whole bunch of stupid drinking games, even though we're underage, and I'm driving tonight, and I hate the taste of alcohol. And you know those cliché party games like Spin the Bottle and Truth or Dare? Yeah, forced me to play those. I swear that stupid bottle was rigged because I had to kiss way more people than I care to admit. And during Truth or Dare my friends were just trying to get deepest personal secrets out of me the whole time. And they wouldn't let me leave to go find you until I got that text from you." He let out a deep sigh. "I think I need to find new friends."

"You should make friends with my friends," I suggested lightly, while taking another drag of my cigarette, "We don't drink or play stupid party games. Or go to parties at all. We mostly just hang out, read and write dark stuff, and complain about everything."

Ike smirked and couldn't help but start laughing. I grinned at him and wrapped an arm around his back, pressing him close to me. Suddenly, my phone buzzed with a text and I pulled it out to look at it.

PETE: Are you still ok?

FIRKLE: Yeah, I'm fine. This party is still stupid, though.

"Hey, you want to get out of here now?" Ike asked, "I'm getting tired of this place."

"I was hoping you'd say that," I said with a grin. We stood up and I stamped out my cigarette before throwing it away in a nearby trash bin. We went back inside together and though it was still loud and crowded, and I could feel my nervousness starting to rise again, I reminded myself that we were leaving.

We fought our way through crowds of people until we reached the main room. The front door was in sight when Ike turned to me.

"Wait right here a second," he ordered, "I just want to tell my friends that I'm leaving."

I silently nodded and watched as he dove off into the horde. I tried my best to glue myself to the spot and be knocked around by the bodies of people dancing and moving. After about a minute of waiting I began to grow nervous when someone suddenly grabbed my arm from behind. Startled, I spun around and came face to face with Mirabelle.

"There you are," she said in a seductive voice, "I've been looking for you. I over heard Filmore saying you were coming to my party and I'm overjoyed that you actually came."

"Yeah, well I was just about to leave, so if you could let go of me," I muttered, trying to tug my arm out of her grip.

"Oh, but you can't leave now!" she whined, "I just found you! Come with me, love. I want to show you something."

I tried to protest as her grip on my arm strengthened and she started dragging me away from sweet freedom. I dug my heels into the floor and tried to yank my arm out of her grasp, but nothing seemed to slow her down as she lugged me towards her destination.

"Where are we going?" I wondered, though I was also scared to know the answer.

"You'll see," she replied, turning to wink at me.

She pulled me towards a staircase that I hadn't seen before that was towards the back of the main room. Looking up, I saw many windowpanes and wondered what that room was. I couldn't see anyone up there from where we were. But apparently this was where Mirabelle wanted to take me as she started tugging me up the stairs. Again, I tried to stop her.

"Listen, I really should be getting back," I informed her, "Ike will be waiting for me. He's probably worried about me and wondering where I went."

"Oh screw Ike," Mirabelle scoffed, "We don't need him around. He doesn't love you like I do."

 _Who said anything about love?_

"Here we are!" the cheerleader announced when we reached the door. She opened it and pulled me inside.

We were in some sort of fancy bedroom that looked out over the main room. A mini refrigerator stood next to the nightstand as well as a mini bar. A large plasma TV was mounted on the wall across from the bed which was covered in silk sheets and blankets. I began to grow very afraid. I turned to Mirabelle who smiled at me.

"This is my room," she told me, "Isn't it nice? We won't be disturbed here."

I blinked at her before turning to leave, but she quickly ran over and blocked my exist. "You can't leave now," she cooed, "The night's just getting started."

"No, I don't think so," I muttered, backing away slowly. The girl hummed.

"You look thirsty," she noted, "Let me get you something to drink." She walked past me, making sure to brush against me as she did so, and walked over to her mini fridge. She had her back to me as she prepared a couple of sodas and I wondered if I would have enough time to run from the room. But she was already turning back around and shoving a glass into my hand.

"Here. It's on the house," she said, chuckling at her attempt to make a joke.

I eyed the glass wearily. I didn't trust her and she must've noticed. "Oh don't worry. It's just soda, I assure you," she promised.

Still not trusting her fully, I sniffed at it before taking a sip. "It tastes kind of funny," I noted. Mirabelle shrugged.

"It's a much higher quality soda than one would get at the supermarket," she excused, "So it might taste a little different." Then she tipped her glass back and chugged her own drink in just a few gulps. Pig.

With a sigh I decided to take another sip. It still tasted rather strange. As I did so I noticed she was wearing my necklace around her neck and I couldn't help but narrow my eyes at her.

"Hm? What's wrong?" she wondered, "Oh? You noticed my necklace?"

"You mean _my_ necklace," I growled.

"I'll make you a deal," she hummed, "I'll give it back to you if you sleep with me."

I couldn't help but glare at her as she said this. "Yeah, not going to happen, bitch," I growled. I couldn't stand this anymore. I started to turn to leave, but suddenly I felt dizzy and light-headed. I stumbled slightly and nearly fell as I tried to regain my balance.

Mirabelle gave me a concerned look. "What's the matter, love?" she asked, "You don't look so well. You look as though you've been drugged."

I started breathing heavily as I looked down at the glass still in my hand. My vision started to blur as I looked up at the grinning bitch. The glass dropped from my hand.

"What… did you… do… to me?" I panted, glaring at her. She stepped closer as my knees began to buckle.

"Don't worry about it, love," she purred, "By the time you figure it out, it won't matter anymore. And I'll finally have you all to myself. Now, now go to sleep and I promise I'll take real good care of you."

I desperately tried to stay standing, but my legs gave out from under me, and I fell to the floor. The last thing I saw before I fell unconscious was Mirabelle's stupid grinning face.

 **Oh no! What's going to happen to Firkle? Will he be all right? Or will Mirabelle have her way with him? It's so exciting, I think I might wet myself, but not really because I'm the author and I know what's going to happen next! But anyway, leave a comment and let me know what you thought of the party!**


	11. Chapter 11 - Why We Cry

**When we last left Firkle he had just passed out in Mirabelle's bedroom because of some drugs she slipped into his drink. What happened to him? Is he going to make out ok? Hopefully! Let's find out, shall we?**

 **Chapter 11 – Why We Cry**

I was afraid to open my eyes. I was scared that I was going to find myself tied down to Mirabelle's bed with no clothes on. But then, why did it feel like I was resting quite comfortably? I decided to carefully open one eye and was astonished by where I was and opened my eyes fully.

I was in Ike Broflovski's room. Which was strange because I could've sworn I passed out in Mirabelle's bedroom. Sitting up, I startled Ike, who was sitting in a chair next to the bed. He had appeared to have been dozing off.

"Firkle! You're awake!" he exclaimed, "Oh thank God! I was really worried about you!"

Confused, I blinked at him. Was the party just a dream or something? "What happened?" I wondered.

"Well, after I told my friends we were leaving I came back to find you gone," Ike explained, and as soon as he said this my heart began to sink, "I frantically searched for you, when I saw Mirabelle pulling you up some stairs. So I fought my way through the crowd and made my way towards those stairs. When I got up to the room, Mirabelle was dragging you onto the bed and you were unconscious. I immediately made her let go of you and I got you out to my car, drove you back to my house, and put you to bed." He paused and gave me a sideways look. "I've been watching you all night because I was afraid whatever drugs she gave you could've seriously hurt you."

I listened to his story and the horrible feeling started to lift. "So, she didn't… do anything to me while I was out?" I asked cautiously. Ike shook his head.

"No," he replied, "I don't think she had enough time. I'm pretty sure I came in right after you passed out."

With his answer, I couldn't help but sigh with relief. It was like a crushing weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I turned to Ike and was about to tell him this, but then I noticed something odd.

There were tears in Ike's eyes. I cocked my head in confusion.

"Ike? What's wrong?" I wondered.

"I'm so sorry, Firkle," Ike said in a small shuddering voice, "I should've never forced you to go to that party with me. I simply should have sucked it up and went by myself or just grew a pair and said no. But instead I dragged you into it and it nearly got you assaulted twice. I couldn't even keep my promise to stay with you!"

I stared in astonishment as Ike broke down and started sobbing. I'm not very used to anyone crying. My friends and I don't show our emotions very often, and we don't hang around others that do. So, I had no idea what to do in this situation.

I pursed my lips and looked down at the bedsheets, trying to think of a way to comfort him. My mouth opened and closed several times as I tried to think of something to say.

"Um, it's ok, Ike," I muttered, "I know it was a disaster, but I wasn't hurt." Except for when the quarterback punched me in the gut. But I decided to keep that info to myself.

This didn't seem to soothe him. I don't think he even heard what I said. "I should've taken you up on your offer to do something else," he cried, "Then none of this would've happened. I'm so sorry!"

Desperately, I tried to think of something that was salvageable from last night. Then I remembered when we went outside. I leaned over and grabbed his shoulders.

"Ike! It's ok!" I told him, "It wasn't all bad. When we were together I actually enjoyed myself (as much as I hate to admit it.) We had a rather nice chat that wouldn't have happened if we hadn't gone and I hadn't had forgotten my cigarettes."

Ike started to calm down from my words, wiping his tears on his sleeves. He took a shuddering breath. "You're not mad at me?" he wondered. I shook my head.

"Neither of us wanted to go to that party. And you did save me from Mirabelle," I pointed out. Ike nodded.

"I'm sorry," he muttered, "God, I must look so pathetic right now. It's not cool for guys to cry, but I've always been pretty emotional." I shrugged.

"Eh, I don't really care if a guy cries or not," I said, "I don't judge people for showing emotions. I mean, why were we given them if we're never supposed to show them? Well, it might seem a little hypocritical coming from me because I'm very reserved with my emotions, and I haven't cried in a long time, but I don't condemn others that do, ya know?"

In fact, I could remember the last time I had cried. Really cried. It was when the twins were about three years old and I was twelve. Timmy and Tammy were doing some mundane toddler thing and all I wanted was for my parents to pay attention to me long enough to help me with my homework and feed me dinner. You know, because I was twelve and didn't know how to cook. But instead they focused all their attention on the twins, and when dinner finally came, they only made some for themselves and Timmy and Tammy.

It was at that moment when I realized that my parents no longer loved me, let alone cared anything about me. I retreated to my room, hungry, and cried myself to sleep. I haven't cried since that day. But I told none of this to Ike.

Speaking of Ike, he had gotten up from his chair and went around to crawl into bed beside me. He gave me a sheepish smile.

"Heh, sorry. You spaced out a little and I'm really tired and it's pretty late," he explained.

"Really? What time is it?" I wondered.

"Like, three in the morning," he replied, "But listen, thanks for cheering me up. And for not making fun of me. My friends usually tease me with how emotional I am sometimes. But I can't help it. I just get worried for people, you know? And I have feelings. So sue me."

I shrugged. "People are just going to have to realize that guys have feelings too and they're allowed to show them," I said, "That's nothing to be ashamed of."

Smiling slightly, Ike leaned over and lightly pressed against me. "Thank you, Firkle," he murmured, "I feel a lot better now."

"Any time," I replied. After that we both laid down and went to sleep.

…

I was woken a few hours later by something squeezing my arm. Loud noises don't usually wake me, but someone or something touching me does. Which is probably why I didn't notice that it was thunder storming until a loud boom shook the entire room, causing my arm to be squeezed even harder.

"Ow," I muttered. I opened my eyes and rolled over to see Ike pressed up against me, clutching my arm in fear. The room was just light enough so I could see his eyes darting around, as if he was scared that something was out to get him. There was a strike of lightning which caused Ike to flinch, and a few moments later a clap of thunder made him bury his face in my shoulder. I blinked at him before reaching over and turning on the lamp on the nightstand.

"Uh, Ike? Are you all right?" I asked, "You seem a little freaked out."

Ike stared at me with wide eyes. "S-Sorry," he muttered, "Um, this may seem silly, but er, I'm scared of thunderstorms."

"You're scared of thunderstorms?" I repeated.

"Don't laugh!" he hissed, "I've been afraid of them ever since I was young. When I was growing up, every time there was a thunderstorm something bad would happen, like ghosts would appear, or the president would return. And whenever there was one I would go to my brother's room and he would let me sleep with him. But ever since he left for college I've been more scared than ever." He sighed. "I know it's pathetic. A sixteen-year-old is still afraid of thunderstorms."

I sat up and looked at him. "Ike, that's nothing to be ashamed of," I pointed out, "Everyone has something they're afraid of, from small things to big things. Like for instance, Pete is afraid of barbers and hairstylists."

"H-He is?" Ike asked in surprise. I nodded.

"Yeah, he's rather proud of his hair," I told him, "But his parents hate it. They want him to cut it off and make it all black again, but he won't. So he's become paranoid that his parents have bribed every barber and hairstylist in South Park to chop off his hair. That's why when he needs to get it trimmed or re-dyed he makes one of us do it."

Ike stared in astonishment at me. "Really?!" he exclaimed.

"Uh-huh," I replied, "And Henrietta's afraid of any cat that isn't black for some reason. She's never told us why. Michael is afraid of plants ever since the emo incident. Even though those were just regular plants."

"Wow," Ike murmured, "Is it a specific kind of plant or any plant in general?"

"Basically any plant that's in a pot," I explained, "When he and Pete moved into the college campus together, Pete's mom thought it would be nice to get them a house plant to liven the room, and in a panic Michael smashed it on the ground."

"Geez Michael," Ike chuckled.

"Just so you know, you can't tell my friends I told you any of this," I said, "They're really sensitive when it comes to their fears."

Ike nodded and looked down for a moment. "Um, if you don't mind me asking, what are you afraid of, Firkle?" he wondered.

I hesitated. This was a surprisingly hard question. Right now I greatly feared the football team, but because of who they were but because of what they did to me and what they could do to me again. I thought about every time they attacked me and every time I felt the most scared. What did they all have in common? Something that I could tell Ike?

"I'm afraid of being restrained," I answered finally. Ike looked at me.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I don't like feeling trapped and hopeless," I explained, "So I get really scared when I can't move my arms and legs for whatever reason. Whether I'm tied up, or being pinned down, or some other reason, I just get so nervous and scared. Like when those two acquaintances of yours had me pinned to the wall at the party yesterday. Or whenever the football team holds me down or ties me up so they can torture me easier."

"Geez," Ike muttered.

"There was a day, two years ago on a Friday when I was about to leave to go home," I told him, "I was at my locker getting my stuff out when Filmore and Quaid suddenly shoved me into and trapped me. I couldn't move my arms at all to reach my cell phone and call my friends for help. I was stuck in there all weekend. I was absolutely terrified."

"Oh my God!" Ike exclaimed, "I'm so sorry!" I gave nonchalant shrug.

"Whatever. It's in the past now. I just hold an ever-lasting grudge against them, no big deal," I assured him. Ike seemed to relax at that, but then seemed to think of something and grew a bit nervous.

"Er, Firkle?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry," he said, "About the first time I kissed you." I gave him a confused look, not knowing what he meant. He swallowed and continued. "Remember? I pushed you down and pinned your wrists down. If I had known it made you nervous and scared, I wouldn't have done it." I blinked at him.

"Oh yeah, that," I remembered, "Ah, forget about it. You didn't know, and you weren't really holding me very strongly. Honestly, I was more confused than anything else."

Ike let out a breath of relief. Then he flinched slightly when he heard the sound of distant of thunder. "Um, would it be all right if I held onto you until the storm passes?" he wondered.

I gave him a small smile. "Sure," I replied. Even though I knew we were both tired and we were going to fall asleep in each other's arms before the storm passed. Still, I allowed it anyway.

 **This entire chapter is just basically Firkle comforting Ike, I realized. Oh well. I wanted to show how close the two are growing as friends and maybe more. Firkle doesn't realize how close he's growing to Ike and that they're basically friends at this point. He trusts Ike with quite a bit, even if he won't admit it. Anyway what did you think of this chapter? Leave a comment telling me what you thought!**


	12. Chapter 12 - Time With Friends

**What a fluffy chapter that was, huh? Where do we go from there? Well I have ideas, so let's get on with it.**

 **Chapter 12 – Time With Friends**

I was so glad it was Saturday, because when I opened my eyes and looked over at the digital clock on the nightstand it was already one o' clock. Ike and I still had our arms wrapped around each other and Ike was still fast asleep. With a small groan, I stretched my arms and tried to get up, but Ike held me so tight and wouldn't let me move. Blinking in surprise, I again attempted to untangle myself, but Ike just made a small noise and squeezed me tighter. With a grunt, I slowly edged us slowly towards the end of the bed so I could reach my phone which was sitting on the nightstand. I had to practically squish Ike to grab it.

I turned it on and saw with guilt that I had forty-five new texts and several missed calls from my friends. I had totally forgotten that I had promised to text them and they had probably worried when I suddenly stopped.

With anticipation, I opened the texts and regretted it immediately. My friends had started panicking when I didn't text them and even though I didn't respond they kept texting me, wondering what could've happened to me. I debated between messaging them to tell them I was ok or calling one of them. But who would I call?

I decided to call Michael, since he would be most likely to have one of the others with him, if not both Henrietta and Pete. I adjusted myself in Ike's arms so I could talk on the phone without bothering him. I dialed and before I could even say "hello" Michael was yelling at me.

"Where have you been!?" he shouted, causing me to pull the phone away from my ear, "Do you know how worried we were about you? Why didn't you text us? We thought you were dead or something! You have a lot of explaining to do, mister!"

"Good morning to you too," I muttered, "I'm sorry I didn't respond to your texts. Something, er, happened last night."

"Is that Firkle?" I heard Pete shout in the background, "Put him on speaker!"

"Ok," Michael replied. There was a muffled sound before Michael said, "Firkle you are now on speaker phone. Pete and Henrietta are also in the room."

"You'd better have a good explanation for not texting us last night," Henrietta growled at me, "Or answering us when we tried to call you!"

Her angry tone made me flinch. "I do," I replied, "But, um, you guys aren't going to like it very much."

"Are you all right, Firkle?" Pete asked, concerned. I sighed.

"I'm fine," I told them, "It's just… something happened last night right as Ike and I were leaving the party." I was reluctant to tell them. I really hated making my friends worry about me when they could be dealing with more important things.

"What happened?" Michael's voice was much calmer than before.

So, with reluctance, I told them all about last night. How Mirabelle whisked me away and drugged me and I probably would have been violated if Ike hadn't saved me. I chose to leave out our late-night discussions, as that was a private conversation between Ike and myself. I concluded by telling them that I was still at Ike's house.

There was silence after I finished talking. Then I heard Pete let out a frustrated sigh.

"I knew it," he growled, "I knew you shouldn't have gone to that party!"

I flinched at the tone of his voice. "You don't have to say it like that, Pete," I murmured, "I'm ok. Nothing bad happened to me."

"'Nothing bad happened to you?'" Pete mocked bitterly, "You were almost raped by a crazy bitch!" I flinched again. I hated hearing that word. It brought up such horrible memories.

"Pete, calm down," Henrietta said, "He's obviously fine. You're fine, right Firkle?"

"Of course I'm fine!" I snapped, "I already told you! Ike saved me before anything could happen!" My friends fell silent. I swallowed nervously. "Guys?"

"You're sure nothing happened to you?" came Pete's quiet voice, "Because if you got hurt we can go over to that house and wreck that bitch."

I let out a small sigh of relief. "I'm sure," I replied, "Ike stayed up late watching over me and when I woke up it was past three. So, we were really tired, which is why it took me so long to call you guys. I was still asleep."

"Are you still at Ike's house?" Michael wondered.

Was I going have to repeat myself with everything for these guys? I'm pretty sure I already told them this. But I wasn't going to say that out loud. "Yeah," I said, "Ike's still asleep, actually." I also wasn't going to tell them I was currently trapped in his arms.

"Are you going home soon?" Henrietta asked, "We really want to see you. After you scared us last night, I think you owe us some face time."

"Well, first I have to wake up Ike," I muttered, making a futile attempt to free one of my arms from his grasp, "I can get him to drive me home."

"I didn't know Ike could drive," Pete mused.

"I didn't either until about a week ago," I admitted. Then I grinned mischievously. "He's a better driver than you, Michael."

"Well that's not surprising," Henrietta scoffed, "Ninety percent of the population is a better driver than Michael."

"I resent that," Michael growled at his girlfriend. I heard Henrietta and Pete snickering.

"Anyway, will you please call us when you get home?" Pete asked, "We'd really like to hang out at your place."

"I don't know why, considering my place is a shit hole, but yeah, I promise I'll call you when I get home," I told them. We said our good-byes and then I hung up. Now that I had taken care of that, I just had one last issue to deal with.

Waking up Ike. The Canadian still had a firm grip around me and his face was buried in my neck. Maybe I shouldn't have agreed to let him hold me last night. I couldn't even get my other arm free to try to wake him. I decided to use my one free arm to try to shake him while shouting at him.

"Ike!" I growled, roughly prodding him, "Ike, wake up!"

I felt him start to stir and I shuddered slightly when he yawned and his breath warmed my neck. When he was done stretching, he sat up and looked down at me. Then he seemed to realize the position he was and quickly untangled himself from me in embarrassment.

"Um, good morning," he greeted, blushing.

"Good afternoon is more like it," I corrected in a teasing voice, "You lazy bum."

"Hey, I was up really late last night!" Ike argued, "Give me a break!"

I smirked at him before getting out of bed, relieved to be free. Ike got up as well and went over to his drawer to change his shirt. Out of boredom I watched as his back muscles flexed as he pulled his shirt up over his head. He pulled out another shirt that was also blue and from the back looked identical to the one he had just taken off. Probably because I had never seen Ike's back before, but I suddenly realized he had a long, straight, faint scar across his back that I had never noticed before. I didn't get to study it for very long before he slipped his new shirt on. Then he turned around and noticed me staring at him and immediately blushed with embarrassment.

"Um, were you staring at me the whole time I was putting my shirt on?" he asked.

"Yes," I replied nonchalantly. Ike's blush deepened. "So, where'd you get that scar from?" His eyes flashed some emotion and he looked down.

"You saw that, huh?" he muttered, "I got that from, er, a certain family member. They, um, whipped me for causing trouble."

"That's awful," I replied. I had a feeling I knew which family member he was talking about, but I could be wrong. After all, I didn't know his whole family.

"It's ok. It happened… a long time ago," he said in a sad voice, "I wish I had something to cover it up, though. Even if I can't see it, I know it's there, and I just remember what happened."

 _Reminds me of what the football team did to me,_ I thought to myself. "You should get a tattoo," I said aloud, "It would cover up your scar, piss off your mom, make you into a bad ass, and make you look great all at the same time!"

At my suggestion, Ike couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah! I should totally get a tattoo!" he agreed sarcastically, "My mom would kill me!"

"But at least you would be cool before you died," I pointed out with a grin.

Ike laughed again, this time nearly falling over. I stared at him in amusement as he walked over and sat down on the bed next to me. It took him several moments to regain his breath. "You can be really funny when you want to be," he finally said a bit breathlessly.

"I have my moments," I confessed, "Maybe you could get a tattoo to match mine. But maybe like a spiritual opposite kind of thing? Like, you know how mine is of black angel wings? Maybe you could get white demon wings. Then next year for Halloween you could wear white devil horns and a tail and grab a pitchfork. Boom. Instant costume."

"But in order for that to work I would have to walk around without a shirt on," Ike pointed out.

"Exactly."

He really did try to keep a straight face, but once he realized I was being serious Ike cracked up again, bursting into a fit of laughter. He leaned on my shoulder in an attempt to keep himself upright. When he was _finally_ done laughing, he rested his head on my shoulder, panting for a few moments to get his breath back.

"You're going to kill me one of these days," he huffed.

"Yup," I agreed, "Hey, before you die could drive me home? I promised my friends I would hang out with them at my place."

"Heh, yeah," Ike replied, "I'll drive you home. We should probably go before my mom becomes suspicious of all this noise and thinks I have a girl in my room."

All this talk about his mother made wonder where his father was. I had been over here a couple of times now and I hadn't seen him at all. But I decided to leave that question for another time as we quickly snuck out of the house and to the car.

We spent the car ride in silence which I preferred. It wasn't very long before we arrived at my house. Before I got out, I wanted to speak to Ike.

"Hey, um, thanks for taking care of me," I said. Ike grinned at me.

"You're welcome," he replied, "Thank you for cheering me up."

I nodded and got out of the car. I watched Ike drive away before going into my house. Thankfully, I managed to make it up to my room without my stupid siblings noticing me. When I got up to my room, I texted my friends and told them I was home before flopping down on my bed. Then I didn't know what to do until my friends got there. My homework was done and I was trying to cut back on smoking. I would write in my notebooks, but they were ruined now.

The emptiness of my life came crushing down on me once again.

I was so thankful when my friends texted me a few minutes later to tell me they had arrived. I quickly ran downstairs to let them in.

"Hey guys," I greeted, about to stand aside to let them in.

"Come outside, Firkle, we have a surprise for you," Michael said. Curious, I followed my friends outside and was surprised by what I saw.

Henrietta had her truck parked in the driveway with the back filled with black furniture. There was a three-person couch and an oval shaped coffee table. I could also see one of those weird round modern chairs, a mini fridge, and a microwave. I went to the back of the truck and stared in astonishment.

"What's all this?" I wondered.

"One of the guys in our dorm was moving out and getting rid of some of his stuff," Pete explained, "We thought about how empty your room is, so we bought all of this off him for only fifty bucks. Pretty neat, huh?"

"Guys, you didn't have to do this," I murmured.

"Yeah, we didn't have to," Henrietta agreed, "But we did it anyway."

"I don't know what to say," I whispered, "Thanks guys. You're the best."

After making sure no one was watching, we shared a group hug and then started getting the stuff out of the back of Henrietta's truck. We started work carrying it to my room, a task made slightly more difficult when Tammy suddenly ran over and latched herself onto Pete's torso and we had to use a crowbar to get her off. It took a while to get all the furniture up to my room (especially when Tammy came back decided to glue herself to Pete's leg and wouldn't let go. We had to tickle her off that time.) But we made it in the end. By the time we were done it was late and I invited my friends to stay the night. I was happy when they obliged.

 **Really wanted to show how much Firkle's friends care about him this chapter, even if Firkle doesn't realize it himself. Not quite sure what I'm going to do with the next chapter, plus I want to try and focus on my other stories that I haven't updated in a while so this one might take a bit to get updated. But in the meantime, please leave a comment!**


	13. Chapter 13 - Hush

**Like I said in the last chapter, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this one. I know how it's going to begin and that's about it. Eh, I'll wing it.**

 **Edit: I came up with an idea! Yay for me!**

 **Chapter 13 – Hush**

I slept in between Pete and Michael while Henrietta slept on my new couch. I tried to offer her something better, but she said she didn't mind. As for my bed, it's actually rather large and considering how skinny my two friends and I are there was plenty of room for the three of us. Even ignoring how tall Pete and Michael are.

When I woke in the morning, I had no idea what time it was, but I didn't really care. I could feel Michael's back pressed against my own, and judging by the deep, rhythmic breaths he was taking, he was still asleep. So, it must've been Pete who was the one gently stroking my hair. I slowly opened my eyes and confirmed it.

"H-Hey Pete," I greeted softly so I wouldn't wake Michael, "How long have you been awake?" He shrugged slightly, undisturbed in being caught in this affectionate gesture.

"A while now," he replied, "I woke up and I couldn't get back to sleep. I couldn't help but stare at you and Michael. You know, you're kind of cute when you're asleep."

I felt a blush starting form on my face at his words. I shoved my face into my pillow as Pete chuckled lightly and continued to stroke my hair.

"Pete, you're embarrassing me!" I muffled, "And this is so not goth!"

My friend laughed before leaning over and kissing me lightly on the cheek. I buried my face deeper into my pillow. I heard him laugh more, so I lashed out my arm and shoved him off the bed. There was a loud thud that startled Michael awake.

"I'm up!" he exclaimed, nearly falling off. I heard Henrietta moan.

"You guys are too loud," she muttered.

"Heh, sorry, Henrietta," I apologized. I looked over at Michael who was still blinking the sleepies off. Then I leaned over to the other side of the bed and glanced down at Pete on the floor. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"That hurt, you know," he said.

"You shouldn't have embarrassed me," I pointed out. Pete rolled his eyes and got up from the floor then gave me a gentle shove in retaliation.

"Michael, you awake yet?" he asked our friend.

"Almost," the oldest goth mumbled, looking like he was about to fall back asleep sitting up. Michael was not a morning person. Well, none of us were, but Michael in particular was bad.

Meanwhile, Henrietta had gotten up from the couch and put her dress back on before walking over to my bed. She climbed onto the bed in front of Michael, leaned over, and kissed him quickly on the lips. I couldn't help but stifle a laugh as Michael's eyes fluttered open in surprise. Henrietta smirked at him.

"Now you're awake," she said smugly.

"Well, I think this is the first time we've all been awake before noon on a weekend," I mused with a smile. My friends all mulled over this for a moment.

"Huh," Michael said, "Maybe we should go back to bed."

"Nope," Henrietta protested, "I'll sit on you if you do." Michael made some sort of unidentifiable indignant sound.

"Fine," he muttered, "But if I'm going to be awake this early I'm going to need a smoke. Firkle, do you still keep your cigarettes in your nightstand here?"

"Didn't you bring your own pack?" I asked.

"I ran out."

I rolled my eyes in annoyance. "Yeah."

Smiling, Michael reached into my nightstand and dug out my pack of cigarettes. The brand I got was quite a bit cheaper than the kinds my friends got since I had no money and had to go off of what I saved from stealing from my parents. Michael didn't seem to care though and pulled one out before tossing the pack back into my nightstand.

"So, any ideas on what to do today?" Pete asked as he climbed on to my bed and curled up beside me.

"Eh, I don't know," Henrietta replied with a shrug, "I just feel like hanging out, really."

"Yeah, hanging out is what we do best," I agreed.

Michael suddenly got up from the bed and went over to my new mini fridge and pulled out some bottles that I hadn't noticed he had put in there before. They appeared to be alcoholic in nature. I stared as he brought them back over.

"When did you get those?" I asked. Michael shrugged.

"I brought them over last night," he explained, "I figured we could pop a few open. You want to try one, Firkle?"

"Oh, there's that peer pressure I was told so much about," I said. Before Pete could protest on my behalf, I smiled. "Yes, please!"

Smirking, Michael opened a bottle and handed it to me before passing out the rest. I took an experimental sniff before taking a sip.

"So, what do you guys think about-"

"I'm drunk!" I declared loudly, interrupting Henrietta. My three friends all looked at me in astonishment. Then Pete laughed lightly.

"Firkle, you're not drunk," he said, an amused grin on his face.

"I'm pretty sure I am," I countered.

"You can't get drunk after one sip of beer," he argued.

"Maybe you can't," I replied. Feeling light-headed from my drunkenness, I leaned heavily on Pete, resting my head on his shoulder.

"You're weird, Firkle," Henrietta chuckled.

"You're weird," I slurred.

My friends chatted to each other about something in one of their classes, but I wasn't really paying them much attention. I was too busy being drunk. I was rubbing my head on Pete's shoulder when I felt some one nudge me.

"Huh? What?"

Michael shook his head with amusement. "I asked if you got your homework done for Monday," he said, a grin on his face. I blinked slowly at him.

"Um, yes?" I replied, "Ike and I made sure to get it done before the weekend… for the thing we were going to."

"The party?"

"Yeah, that thing."

Michael smiled and shook his head again. "I think I like drunk Firkle," he commented.

"He's not drunk," Pete pointed out, "He probably just thinks he is."

"I drank the rest of the bottle while you guys were talking," I confessed, showing him the empty bottle. Shocked, Pete took the bottle from me.

"Damn it, Firkle," he hissed quietly. Smiling, I gently nuzzled his shoulder and he sighed. "What are we going to do with you?"

"Love me," I murmured, leaning heavily on my friend and closing my eyes, "Care for me. Never leave me."

"You don't have to worry about that, Firkle," Henrietta chuckled, "We're not going to abandon you after all this time. Besides, you're way too cute to leave."

"I am not," I mumbled, struggling to stay awake.

I didn't hear anything else they said because after that I fell asleep leaning against Pete. When I woke up again they were still there, but I had a massive headache.

…

Ike was up to something when I came into school on Monday. I could tell. He kept smiling to himself and giving sly looks to the football team all through out the school day. I was slightly worried he was going to get himself beaten up.

I planned to confront him about this, but those thoughts were temporarily pushed aside when I was making my way to lunch. I was about to go into the cafeteria when someone suddenly grabbed me and slammed me against a wall. My breath was cut off when a large hand wrapped around my throat.

"Some of my boys told me they saw you with my girl at the party on Friday," the quarterback hissed at me, clutching my neck and leaning in close, "You know I don't like you being around my girl."

In vain, I clawed at him massive paw, trying to get some air through. "It's not like I had a choice!" I choked, "She came at me! I didn't even want to go with her!"

The grip on my neck tightened. "Sure! Like I'd believe that!" he spat at me, "You're trying to steal Mirabelle from me, you little bastard! You've been trying ever since you met her!"

"I don't even like her!" I argued. But he ignored me.

"You little punk," he growled, "I think you need to be taught another lesson." My eyes widened and my breathing stopped as he reached a hand down to undo his zipper.

"W-Wait! Please don't!" I pleaded, but the quarterback didn't seem to care. He pressed his crotch up against me.

"You feel that?" he whispered menacingly in my ear, "That's your teacher. Why don't we find somewhere more private so we can teach you why you don't mess with me and my girlfriend?"

I felt myself starting to become overwhelmed with fear and panic as the quarterback started to drag me away to who-knows-where. No… I couldn't go through this again! Someone please help me!

"Hey!" a familiar voice rang out down from down the hallway, "Where do you think you're going with him?"

The quarterback stopped, his grip on me loosening ever-so slightly. I was able to breathe again. I knew that voice, because he was my stalker and seemed to always find me when I was in trouble.

Ike marched up to the quarterback and glared at him. I had no idea what he was planning to do. I'm pretty sure the football player could beat him senseless in two seconds flat before Ike could even figure out what was going on.

"What do you want, runt?" the quarterback asked, annoyed.

"You want to get in trouble, hotshot?" Ike wondered, glaring, "I'm not one for standing around and watching my friends get bullied!"

"What if I just beat you up right now to silence you?" the bully threatened. Ike looked unimpressed.

"Do you think you can attack me while holding onto someone else?" he questioned, "Besides, I could run away and get a teacher. If you let go of Firkle to chase me, he would do the same. And if you did manage to beat me up, that would give me a stronger motivation to tell on you. You see the losing situation you're in?"

I looked up in surprise as the quarterback's look of anger started to falter.

"So, why don't you let go of my friend, you go away, and we'll forget about this whole encounter, all right?" Ike proposed.

With a look of silent rage, the quarterback slowly loosened his grip on my neck and lowered me to the ground. As soon as my feet touched the floor, I rushed over to Ike and hid behind him, clutching his arm for dear life. The football player glared at the two of us before stomping away. I let out a huge sigh of relief as he did.

"Thanks for saving me, Ike… again," I muttered, "He was about to do something horrible to me. What are you doing here, anyway?"

Ike looked like he wanted to question me, but thankfully he didn't. Instead, a weird smile formed on his face.

"Oh, I found something, Firkle," he said gleefully, "I found evidence! Proof of the football team's bullying ways. I'm going to show this evidence to the principal and expose them all! That ought to get them off your back!"

My eyes widened and I felt my heart stop at his words. No! Didn't he know how disastrous that would be? Didn't he know what the football team would do to me if they thought I had gotten them in trouble?

I quickly grabbed Ike's shoulders and spun him around, stopping him. A shocked expression met my scared one.

"W-What's wrong, Firkle?" Ike asked nervously.

"Y-You can't tell the principal," I stuttered, "Please don't expose the football team! I'm begging you!"

Ike's expression changed into one of confusion. "Firkle, why are you protecting them?" he wondered, "Why do you keep allowing them to torment you? This could get them to stop!"

I wrapped my arms around myself and looked away. "I… I can't tell you why," I murmured, "But trust me when I tell you that exposing them for the vicious bullies they are wouldn't solve anything. It would only make things much worse for me. They may be a bunch of blockheads, but together they're more clever than you think. There's a reason they've never been caught before."

Ike frowned and opened his mouth as if to say something, but then closed it again. He looked conflicted. Then he sighed.

"All right," he said at last, "I won't say anything. I don't understand why you don't want to stop them, though."

My lip curled up in a sneer. "You think I don't want to stop them?" I scowled, "How I wish they would leave me alone and stop tormenting me! I wish I had never met that bitch cheerleader! But I can't do anything. You have no idea the power they hold over me. Trust me, what you've seen so far isn't even the worst of what they can, and have done, to me."

With that, I turned on my heel and walked away back towards the cafeteria. I didn't really feel like eating anymore, but there was safety in numbers.

 **Eh, I'm gonna end the chapter there. I was gonna add more, but I'll save that for the next chapter. Anyway, what do you guys think of drunk Firkle? Apparently he gets affectionate when he's tipsy. Who knew? Please leave a comment as I work on the next chapter!**


	14. Chapter 14 - New Nightmares

**I want to thank you all for the wonderful reviews I've gotten for this story so far, because I don't think I have yet. And if I did well, I'm doing it again. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! Let's keep this train rolling.**

 **Chapter 14 – New Nightmares**

I woke up gasping with fear and shaking with anxiety. I had just awoken from a nightmare, but this one was a bit different from my usual ones. I had dreamed of the day's events when the quarterback attacked me. Only this time Ike didn't come to save me. The football player took me away and tortured me. Even though I was awake, I could still feel him touching me, violating me.

Looking at the clock, I was horrified to see it was only 1:45. I was never going to get back to sleep at this rate. Shaking, I picked up my phone and called Henrietta. She would be the least likely to be annoyed with me for calling this late. She picked up immediately.

"Firkle? Why are you calling so late? Are you ok?" she asked in a concerned voice.

"H-Hey, um, were you asleep?" I wondered, not answering. If she had been asleep I didn't want to bother her.

"No," she replied, "I was busy reading. What's up?"

"Um, is it all right if I come over?" I asked nervously. I hesitated, but then I decided to just come out and say it. "I had a nightmare and I really don't want to spend the night alone."

I could almost see the sympathetic smile forming on her face. "Of course you can," she replied, "I don't mind at all."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you," I said.

"Do you want me to come pick you up?" she wondered, "It's pretty late, and I wouldn't feel right about letting you walk over here all by yourself this late at night."

Normally I wouldn't care, but she did have a point. Plus, I was still unnerved by my nightmare. "Yes, please," I answered.

"All right, I'll be there in a minute. I'll text you when I get there," she told me. We said our good-byes and hung up.

While I waited for her I grabbed a change of clothes for the morning. A minute or two later I got a text from Henrietta telling me she was here. As quietly as could, I snuck out of my house and went out to my friend's truck where she was waiting.

"Hey Firkle," she greeted as I got in, "All set?"

"Yeah," I replied, "Thanks again for letting me stay over."

"Of course. I've had my share of nightmares and I often wish I had someone there with me when I had them," she told me as she got back on the road.

"What about Michael?" I wondered. She shrugged.

"He comes over sometimes, but he never sleeps over on nights when I have nightmares," she said, "And… I kind of feel silly calling my boyfriend to come over because I had a bad dream. I barely like to admit I even have them."

Giving her a comforting smile, I leaned over and put a hand on her arm. "Well, if you ever do have another nightmare you can always come over to my house," I told her, "I don't mind at all."

She smiled at me but kept her eyes on the road. "Thanks Firkle. I might take you up on that some time."

After that, it didn't take much longer to get to her house. We quietly crept in, careful not to wake her parents, and tip-toed up to her room. Once we in her room, I set my clothes down on her dresser before getting ready to lay down on the floor. Henrietta gave me a confused look.

"Firkle? What are you doing?" she wondered. I looked at her.

"I-I was going to sleep on the floor," I answered, "I just figured it would be weird if we slept in the same bed. I don't mind, honest."

Henrietta let out a small laugh. "Don't be ridiculous," she said, "You're sleeping in bed with me. Now get up here."

I stood up and climbed onto the bed, but not without reprehension. "Are you sure?" I asked cautiously, "What about Michael? Won't he get mad if he finds out?"

"Well I guess we won't let him find out, will we?" she laughed. Then she gave me a serious look. "But all joking aside, we're friends, Firkle. We can share a bed together. And I don't think Michael would care at all."

"If you're sure," I murmured, getting under the covers with her. I felt her snuggle up to me, sharing the warmth of her body with me. Then I felt her lean over and kiss me gently on the cheek. I smiled at that.

"Good night, Henrietta," I whispered.

"Good night, Firkle," she replied.

…

With Henrietta by my side I slept peacefully the rest of the night. And when I woke up in the morning I actually felt well rested. It was nice.

Henrietta had, at some point during the night, thrown her arm around me and pressed me closer to her. I could feel her warm breath on the back of my neck and it made me tingle. I always felt loved and protected around Henrietta. She was like a mother or big sister to me. I think of my three friends I loved her the most. If I had to pick favorites, that is. I loved Pete and Michael, but sometimes Pete was a little too over-protective, and Michael seemed too indifferent. I know he cared about me, of course, but he never seemed to really start caring unless something really big was happening.

I felt Henrietta stir behind me as she yawned and slowly stretched out her limbs. When she thickly breathed on me, I shuddered again. Then she sat up and looked down at me.

"Good morning, Firkle," she greeted a little drowsily, "Sleep all right?"

"Yeah, much better," I replied, rolling over to face her, "Thanks for letting me stay here last night." She gave me a small smile.

"It was no trouble at all," she assured me, "Do you want to use my shower before I drive you to school?"

I shook my head. "Nah. I don't want to see what kind of weird girly things you might have in there," I replied, "I wouldn't mind borrowing your makeup, though."

"Sure thing, little girl," she said, smirking at me.

My comment about not wanting to see her girly things was immediately rendered moot when she started undressing in front of me. As I've stated previously, my friends and I were perfectly comfortable with each other's bodies, but a little warning would have been nice.

Henrietta took my clothes that I had brought over and dropped them on the bed. "Here's your clothes," she said nonchalantly, not caring that she wasn't wearing a top or a bra, "You should probably get dressed if you don't want to be late for school."

"Will you put a top on already?" I grumbled, pulling the T-shirt I wore for a night shirt up over my head. Henrietta smirked at me but did as I asked.

We both got dressed in silence before we headed out of the house. We drove back to my house first so I could drop off my clothes and pick up my school stuff. Then I was quickly back in the truck.

"Do you mind if I drive through Starbucks to get a coffee really quick?" Henrietta asked me. I shook my head.

"Only if you get one for me," I replied. She grinned at me as she got in line.

"Three creams one sugar, right?" she clarified.

"Yerp." Even though all four of us drank coffee, we all had our different preferences when it came to cream to sugar ratio. Pete liked a lot of sugar and one cream in his coffee. I obviously preferred more cream and less sugar. Henrietta took hers with equal amounts cream and sugar. And Michael was the weirdo in our group who took his entirely black.

We once read this stupid study that said that people who drunk black coffee were more likely to be psychopaths, and we liked to mercilessly tease Michael about it. We didn't actually believe that study, it was obviously bullshit, but still it was just something to hold over our friend.

Once we received our coffees we were back on the road heading towards the school. When we arrived, just like Pete, Henrietta insisted on giving me lunch money. This time I accepted it without complaint. I knew she was going to make me take it whether I wanted it or not. Plus, I had forgotten to take money from my parents before I left the house.

"Thanks for everything, Henrietta," I said as I got out of the truck.

"No problem, sweetie," she replied, "You know I would do anything for you." She blew me a kiss and I blushed before shutting the door and she drove off.

I headed into school with my coffee and slowly falling apart bag. I would probably need to get a new one soon, but that would require money that I didn't have. And I hated asking my friends for money. I already felt like I was holding them back, I didn't like mooching off them either.

In homeroom I took my usual place in the back of the room and took out my ruined notebook and a new notebook I had bought for really cheap. I was trying to transfer what I could from my old notebook into the new one, but it was rather difficult due to the water damage making most of the words illegible. I was still working when you-know-who came in.

"Hey," Ike greeted quietly as he took the desk next to me. He still seemed to be tense from our encounter from yesterday. "Um, how are you today?"

I let out a sigh. "I don't know," I replied honestly, "I had a nightmare last night so I went to stay with Henrietta. She helped me sleep better so I'm pretty well rested this morning. I don't know why I'm telling you all of this."

Ike gave me a small grin. "I won't judge," he assured me, "You saw me break down and cry. I figure we're even now."

Scoffing lightly, I turned back to my notebooks. There wasn't much to salvage from my old stuff which really saddened me. All that work wasted. With a huff, I closed the old notebook and got up to throw it in the trash. No point in keeping it anymore.

When I returned to my seat I saw Ike staring at me from my peripheral. I sighed.

"What?"

"Are you all right?" he asked me, "You seem upset."

"Then I should seem normal to you," I scoffed, "That's my default emotion. That or irritated." Which I was quickly becoming.

Ike frowned. "Did I do something to anger or annoy you?" he wondered, "Because if I did I'm really sorry."

His pitiful face and sincerity made me sigh. "No, it's not you, Ike," I assured him, "I'm just having a difficult week. It's not your fault." He looked relieved to hear this.

Before homeroom ended I leaned over to Ike. "Hey, can you come over after school and help me with my homework again?" I requested. He gave me a small smile.

"Of course," he replied.

Later in the day I had a class with the quarterback, which was not good because it meant I couldn't focus on what the teacher was saying. I sat in the back of the class as I always did, but after today I was considering moving to the front of the class. The quarterback sat next to me, punching me, kicking me, nudging me, rubbing my leg, and doing anything he could to make sure I was uncomfortable. And, as much as hated to admit it, I didn't have Ike to help me this time.

As the teacher lectured the class, the quarterback leaned over and hissed at me. "Where's your little boyfriend today, Dorkle?" he asked in a menacingly low voice, "Is he not around today?"

"You know he doesn't share this class with us," I quietly replied, trying to remain calm. I definitely wasn't going to call him out for calling Ike my boyfriend.

The bully laughed silently. "You'd better hope his class is nearby," he warned, "Because the moment I get you alone, you're dead." He straightened again and pretended to pay attention to what the teacher was saying.

I was trembling softly in my seat as I stared at the clock. Only five more minutes until class ended. I knew where's Ike class was, so if I could just dodge this blockhead long enough to get to him, I would be safe. I didn't care if his class was out of the way of this one; we shared the next period so I could use the excuse that I wanted to walk with him.

Out of my peripherals, I could see the quarterback reaching for me, ready to grab me as soon as the bell rang. Thinking quickly, I grabbed my stuff and quickly stood up and headed towards the front of the room.

"Excuse me, teacher," I said as she sat at her desk, "My next class is on the other side of the school, and I forgot to grab my textbook for it, so I leave when the bell rings and go to my locker I'll be late for class. May I please leave now?"

The teacher looked up and gave me a warm smile. "Why, of course you may, Georgie," she replied, and I had to stop myself from cringing.

"Thank you, miss." I tried not to look back at the quarterback as I bolted from the room. I didn't actually have to go to my locker, so I headed straight to Ike's classroom, making it there just as the bell rang. It was a good thing too; I could swear the football player would be on me in an instant if I hadn't.

Ike was rather surprised when stepped out of the classroom and found me waiting for him. "Firkle? What are you doing here?" he asked.

I blushed slightly, but I chose to believe it was because of my dash across the school rather than embarrassment. "Um, I was wondering if you wanted to walk to class together," I said. God, I sounded lame.

"Uh, sure," Ike replied. He looked like he had a few questions for me but decided not to ask them as we started walking to class. He also didn't question it when I nervously pressed against him.

 **I really need to make an outline for this story. It usually helps me know what I should do next. I mean, I know where I want the story to go, but sometimes I have no idea what I want to do with a chapter. Luckily, that's not the case with the next chapter. I kind of know what I want to do. Kind of. Anyway, please leave a comment and look forward to more Firkle/Ike adorableness/awkwardness that's definitely coming next!**


	15. Chapter 15 - Black Book Club

**In today's chapter I'd like to show two relationships clashing a bit to cause some tension while an oblivious Firkle remains clueless to it all. You probably know who I'm talking about, but I'm still not going to tell you here.**

 **Also, I'm sorry for how long this and my other stories have been taking to update. Hopefully this extra-long chapter will make up for it.**

 **Chapter 15 – Black Book Club**

While Ike and I walked back to my house after school, I continued to keep close to him. He didn't seem to question it, though, and just kept yammering on as if nothing was wrong. I was a little paranoid that the quarterback would grab me and drag me away if I was even a foot away from Ike. I hated having to rely on him like this, but I hated the thought of what the quarterback would do to me if he caught me even more.

After we reached my house, we got settled in my room. Now that I had a couch and table we used that instead of my bed which was nice and easy on my back. I was about to pull out my homework when I got a text on my phone. I pulled it out and grinned at the group text I got from Michael.

Michael: Road trip to Denver this weekend. Get hyped, or whatever.

"Yes!" I said out loud. Ike gave me a confused look.

"What's up?" he asked.

"My friends and I are going to Denver this weekend," I explained, "Every other month or so we take a road trip out there and stay a night."

"That sounds like fun," Ike said, giving me a smile, "There's so much in Denver that we don't have in South Park. So many shops…"

"Yeah, sure, but we mostly go for the bookstore," I pointed out, "It's so much bigger than the piddly thing here. I've been wanting to get more H. P. Lovecraft stories. Plus, I can the next couple of volumes of _Black Butler._ "

Ike blinked in surprise at me. "You read manga?" he asked. I shrugged nonchalantly.

"Yeah, why not?" I replied, "There are some pretty dark manga out there. I've been reading _Black Butler_ ever since I finished _Death Note._ "

"Wow. Sounds like you guys will have a good time," Ike said. He sighed slightly. "I wish I could go to Denver. I haven't gotten anything new to read in… years. My mom never wants to drive out that far and I've read all of my books. And all of Kyle's books."

I stared at him for a moment before turning back to my phone.

Firkle: Hey guys, is it all right if Ike comes with us to Denver? He's bored, lonely, and book starved.

It was only a moment before I got a reply.

Henrietta: Yeah, sure, why not?

Michael: I don't care. He owes partial gas and room money, though.

Pete: Whatever.

"What are you texting about?" Ike wondered. He was leaning over, trying to see what everyone was saying.

"Hey Ike, want to come with us to Denver this weekend?" I asked him. Ike immediately looked taken aback.

"R-Really?" Ike exclaimed, "Are you sure? Your friends wouldn't mind?"

"I already asked my friends and they said it was ok," I pointed out, "Michael says you have to pay a bit for gas and room though. Don't worry, it won't be that much. We all chip in except for me."

"Why not you?" Ike asked incredulously.

"Where am I going to get the money?" I countered, "I don't have a job and my parents don't give me an allowance. Stealing from them only gets me so far. Anyway, should I tell my friends you're coming or what?"

"Oh! Um, I should probably call and ask my mom if it's ok first. Pardon me," Ike quickly got up from the couch and rushed out the door. I briefly wondered why he never wanted me to hear his conversations with his mother, but I supposed it was none of my business.

I continued working on my homework for another minute or two until Ike came back in with a wide smile on his face. "She said it was ok!" he announced happily, "She even said she would give me an advance on my allowance so I would have money to spend."

I gave him a small grin. "That's great Ike," I told him, "I wish I got an allowance. When we go to Denver my friends take turns paying for me." I sighed deeply. "I hate burdening them."

"Well, I'm sure they're happy to do it," Ike said, "Otherwise they wouldn't keep doing it, right?" I shrugged.

"I guess so," I replied, "Anyway, we leave on Saturday, stay the night, then head for home on Sunday. We usually hit the bookstore when we get there and if we feel like it check out some other shops before having dinner. Then we have breakfast the next day and head home." I explained this to him while texting my friends that he had permission to come with us.

Henrietta expressed her confusion as to why his mother would agree to let him come with us, seeing how protective she is. "Oh, you know, she just trusts me, is all," Ike said when I read him the text, "My friends and I used to go out of town all the time."

"Ok, if you're sure," I said lowly.

…

The rest of the week went by way too slowly for my liking. Every class seemed twice as long as before and everyone kept getting on my nerves. I made sure to pack early, even though we were only staying one night. I always hated forgetting my make up when we traveled.

On Friday, Ike convinced me to let him stay at my house so my friends wouldn't have to stop by his place and we could get going earlier on Saturday. He even brought his overnight bag to my house so he would be all set to go. We made sure to finish our homework by Friday so we had nothing to distract us, and Ike spent the time until bedtime kissing me. I made Ike sleep on the couch.

When I woke up the next morning, Ike had gotten into bed next to me at some point in the middle of the night and was fast asleep. I sighed and rolled my eyes. This boy had no boundaries.

I got out of bed and started getting ready for the day while Ike continued to sleep. It wasn't until I was applying my makeup when I heard him stirring behind me. I finished getting ready and turned around to see Ike sitting up and stretching. He gave me a small smile when he saw me.

"Hey," he greeted, "Good morning. Sleep well?"

"All right," I replied with a shrug of my shoulders, "Though I do recall making you sleep on the couch." Ike suddenly grew sheepish.

"Heh, sorry. I got cold during the night and I thought sleeping next to you would help keep me warm," was his lame-ass excuse.

"Well if you were cold last night then it's going to be worse for you tonight," I warned him, "Because we like to keep the hotel room at freezing temps."

"Oh dear," Ike muttered under his breath, "It's a good thing I packed extra warm clothes just in case."

We finished getting ready just in time as I heard Henrietta pull up to my house in her truck. Ike and I picked up our bags and made our way downstairs. My friends were waiting for us and Pete looked kind of annoyed.

"Hey Pete, I thought you were driving today," I said as I tossed my bag into the back of the truck. Pete gave Henrietta an angry look.

"I was, but then Henrietta decided _she_ wanted to drive so we did rock-paper-scissors for it and I lost," he growled.

"You'll get over it," Henrietta said dismissively with a shrug of her shoulders, "This just means you get to sit in the back with the squirts."

"Don't call us that," I muttered as Ike finished putting his bag in the back as well.

My friends and I had a system whenever we went anywhere. Whenever Henrietta drove Michael got shotgun and when Pete drove I got shotgun. Theoretically if we let Michael drive Henrietta would get shotgun, but we didn't let Michael drive. And I didn't know how to drive.

I climbed into the backseat where I was immediately shoved into the middle by Ike and Pete, despite my intentions to sit by a window. I didn't complain, though. Ike probably didn't want to sit by someone he didn't know that well. And Pete always liked to sit next to me. Henrietta got into the driver's seat, Michael in the passengers, and after Henrietta started the truck she suddenly decided she had to pee, turned the truck off, and rushed into my house. We waited ten minutes for her to return and we _finally_ got on the road.

On any road trip our standard tunes was, of course, dark wave. But there was an artist that Henrietta loved to listen to that was definitely not gothic. His name was David Cook and she refused to let us complain about him.

So it rather surprised Ike when he was the first thing she started playing when we hit the freeway. He gave me a wide-eyed look.

"Huh, this is not the kind of music I thought you guys would listen to," he said as "Declarations" started playing,

"Oh, trust me, it's not," I told him, "But Henrietta loves this guy. So we're not allowed to complain. Don't worry, the usual stuff will come on soon."

Sure enough, as soon as David Cook was over, the usual dark wave stuff that we knew and loved came on. Ike gave me a small smile, but I could easily see this wasn't his type of music. He probably liked to listen to pop or rock. Or worse, rap.

About fifteen minutes in, he got bored of staring out the window and turned to talk to me. We talked about what we planned to do once we got to Denver. Michael had reserved a room for us, so first we were going to check into the hotel. Then we would go to the bookstore and then get dinner afterwards.

A little while later Henrietta stopped so we could use the restroom and get some snacks. Pete and I always shared a bag of Bugles because of how addicting they are. Thankfully, the vending machine had a rather large bag of them. When we got back to the truck, Ike was there, sucking on "super fiery hot balls."

"Hey," he greeted, tears forming at the corners of his eyes. I gave him a weird look.

"Are you crying?" I asked.

"It's these hot drops, man," he panted, "They're really spicy and burning my tongue!"

"So stop eating them," Pete suggested.

"No way! They're great!" Ike exclaimed.

We waited around for Michael and Henrietta to let us back in the truck since she had locked it and it took ten minutes for them to finally come back. Pete gave them an annoyed glare.

"What were guys doing for so long?" he asked, "Having a quick fuck?"

"Shut up, Pete," Michael growled as he climbed into the front seat.

"Is everyone all set?" Henrietta wondered once we were all seated.

"Are you sure you don't have to go again, Henrietta?" I asked snarkily.

"Ha, ha, very funny, Firkle," Henrietta huffed. But then she paused just before she could turn the truck on. "Actually, I do have to go again. Be right back."

We all sighed and groaned as she hopped out of the truck and rushed back into the restroom. A few minutes later she came back and we were on the road again. About an hour later we were arriving in Denver. Ike practically glued himself to the window, staring out at the city in awe and wonder. I couldn't help but smirk at him.

A few minutes later we got to the hotel and Michael checked us in. We went up to the room to drop off our luggage then went back to the truck so we could go to the bookstore. And thankfully, it wasn't very far from the hotel.

The bookstore was huge and wonderful. It was so much bigger than any store we had in South Park. As soon as we went in, we all separated, except for Ike, who stayed by my side. He followed me as I found my way to the manga section to get the next few volumes of _Black Butler._ I grinned as I pulled three of the books off the shelf.

"So, that's the manga you're into?" Ike asked, "What's it about?"

"It's about a young earl named Ciel who's butler is a demon who is under contract to serve him until he can take revenge on those who tortured him and murdered his family, at which point the demon gets to devour his soul," I explained gleefully, "All the while Ciel has to do tasks for the queen whenever something bothers her. I quite enjoy it."

Ike turned slightly pale. "Oh. Um, that does sound like the sort of thing you would be into," he commented. I grinned at him while slipping the manga into the basket I had grabbed.

"What about you? Are you into any manga?" I wondered.

"Uh, I don't know," Ike answered, "I've never gotten to really try out any before. My mom never let me when I was younger. But I've always been kind of interested. Um, what do you think would be good for me?"

"Well, I'm usually into darker stuff, but I think you would like something a bit smarter," I said, "If it were me, I would go for _Death Note,_ but that may be a bit intense for a starting manga. If you want something fun and adventurous, might I recommend _One Piece_? It's about pirates."

I led him over to where that manga was and pulled out the first volume to show him. He smiled as he took it from me. "This looks interesting!" he said, "I'll try it!" He took the next two volumes as well and put them in a basket then we went off to a new section.

"Anything in particular you're looking for?" Ike wondered as we browsed the horror section. I nodded.

"Yeah. I only have one kind of small volume of H. P. Lovecraft stories and none of them are the Cthulhu mythos. Whenever I want to read those I have to borrow them from Henrietta or Michael. So I wanted to get more volumes for myself," I explained.

"Wasn't Lovecraft kind of super racist?" he asked. I shrugged.

"You can hate the artist but love his work," I pointed out, "Don't tell my friends, but I don't exactly approve of Lovecraft himself either. I just really enjoy his stories. They're so dark and complex. It's hard for me to choose who's stories I like more; Lovecraft's or Edgar Allan Poe's."

As we talked I scanned the bookshelves and eventually found Lovecraft's name. With a smile, I pulled the thickest book off the shelf. I looked through the table of contents and found that there was a good number of stories in it that I wanted to read, including all of the Cthulhu mythos. Satisfied, I put the thick volume into my basket.

"All right, while we're here, what else have we got?" I murmured to myself, "Ooh! _Dracula!_ Gimme!"

"Really?" Ike asked skeptically, "I thought you goths hated vampires."

"We hate modern day, sparkly, 'cool' vampires," I corrected, "The old-school gothic vampires like Dracula are awesome. Plus he dies in the end, so it's all good."

"Firkle!" Ike exclaimed suddenly. I gave him a startled look.

"What?"

"Spoilers!" I blinked at him and it took me a moment or two to realize he was joking. I grinned and nudged him in the arm.

We continued through the bookstore with Ike picking up _Frankenstein_ and _The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde_ while we walked. I think I was becoming a bad influence on him. He also picked up a book about gothic culture and smiled at me.

"If we're going to be hanging out with each other I thought I could learn more about you and your friends," he explained. Something about that made my heart leap and I didn't know why.

Eventually we found my friends at the café getting coffee. And suddenly I wanted coffee. Ike and I joined my friends over at the café with our baskets full of books.

"Hey guys," I greeted, "Find any good books?"

"Hell yeah," Pete replied, "I found _Hellbound Heart,_ the book that inspired the 'Hellraiser' series and other novels by the same author. I plan to binge read them and write an elaborate report about the author's style."

Ike blinked at him. "Really?" he wondered.

"No," Pete snorted in reply, "But I will probably end up binge reading them even if I don't mean to. Did you find that manga you like, Firkle?"

I held up my basket. "Yup. Plus some other books I wanted," I told him, "By the way, where are we going for dinner?"

Henrietta shrugged. "I have no idea," she said, "We haven't really talked about it yet. I was thinking a steakhouse or something because I am really craving meat right now."

"You always crave meat," Michael pointed out.

"Well forgive me for being a carnivore."

After we ordered our coffee (with Ike ordering a latte, the weirdo,) we went over to the checkout counter to purchase our books. On the way over, I had also slipped a copy of Oscar Wilde's _The Picture of Dorian Gray_ into my basket as well as a deck of gothic tarot cards. I stood next to Pete, as he was the one paying for me. He looked down into my basket, then at me.

" _The Picture of Dorian Gray?"_ he read, "That's not gothic or horror."

"Pardon me for reading outside my typical genre," I said snarkily.

We finished checking out and headed back to the truck. We all climbed in and Henrietta started it up. "All right let's find somewhere to eat," she said.

"How about we find something in a plaza?" Michael suggested, "If there are any shops or places we want to look at afterwards we can do that."

"Good idea," Henrietta agreed, "As long as the place has steak."

I turned to Ike and rolled my eyes at him. He tried hard not to snicker.

We managed to find a nice looking restaurant in a large plaza that boasted on its sign that it had steak. The five of us headed in and got a table. We decided to be on one check, but everyone (except for me) was paying together.

I sat next to Henrietta (I hoped I could steal a piece of her steak) and Ike sat on my other side. Pete looked just a bit miffed for some reason as he took a seat between Ike and Michael. I had no idea why. We ordered our drinks, (Michael and Pete ordered something alcoholic while Henrietta and I ordered coffee. Ike had a soda,) and then we started chatting about the books we had bought.

"I picked up _The Haunting of Hill House_ by Shirley Jackson," Michael informed us, "I've always wanted to read that story and never got the chance to. And the 1963 movie was pretty good and scary."

"You're going to have to let me read that when you're done," I told him.

"What did you get, Henrietta?" Pete asked her.

"A bunch of Stephen King novels," she replied, " _Carrie, The Shining, It,_ and _Misery._ Also a couple of his collections with his novellas. I want to see just how nutty of a writer Stephen King really is."

"I've read a few of his short stories and novellas," Ike offered, "He's a very interesting author. He doesn't just write horror, which a lot of people seem to forget. I think you'll enjoy him."

Henrietta nodded, but didn't appear to want to comment. Sometimes I wished my friends weren't so unfriendly to outsiders. I know we're goths, but I did invite Ike, the least they could do is try to talk to him.

A minute later the waiter came back and we ordered our food. Of course, Henrietta ordered a steak, medium rare, with a baked potato because she also loves potatoes. Michael got the fish and chips. I think he's secretly trying to turn British. Pete ordered a plain burger with nothing on it because he's boring. Ike decided to get a basket of buffalo wings (I didn't know buffalos had wings) with several different sauces. And I went with a chicken strip basket. I never ate that much anyway.

When our food came we mostly ate in silence. I was surprised with how many wings there were in Ike's basket and I was even more surprised when he actually managed to eat them all. I barely managed to finish my three chicken strips!

I then proceeded to stare at Henrietta and her steak until she grew uncomfortable and gave me a piece. She did so with a loud sigh and lots of eyerolls.

After we were done eating and had paid, we walked out into the plaza and looked around. Ike spotted something and suddenly got really excited.

"Look!" he exclaimed and pointed, "A frozen yogurt place!"

My friends and I glanced over to the overly colorful façade he was gesturing at. "So?" Michael asked.

"So, I love those kind of places," Ike explained, "They have all sorts of flavors that you can mix and match yourself and lots of toppings! And you pay by the ounce instead of one large price. They're great. You guys should try it!"

We all looked at the place again and how bright and colorful it was. There were a couple of peppy teens hanging out in front of it. Michael curled his upper lip up in disgust.

"I don't know…" he muttered.

Growing desperate, Ike blurted, "I'll pay for all of you!"

We all sighed in resignation. "All right, fine," Henrietta agreed, "But this better be the best frozen yogurt ever."

Ike led us towards the abomination of a business as we tentatively followed behind him. As we entered the place, we noticed all the preppy, peppy teens staring at us. Not one of them were wearing a single dark color. It was painful. Thankfully, my friends and I have mastered the art of ignoring posers like them and went over to the yogurt machines. Pete gasped.

"Guys! They have a coffee flavor!" he exclaimed.

"Score!" Michael said, grabbing a paper cup-bowl and filling it about halfway. The four of us followed suit. I of course put a bit coffee in mine, but then I decided to look at the other flavors available.

And that's where my self-control left me.

My eyes widened as I started pouring a little bit of every flavor (there were like, ten or twenty not including the pumps that combined two flavors), into my bowl. I blinked in awe as I built a tower of frozen yogurt.

"Pete!" I eventually cried out, "Help!"

Over where the toppings were (there were toppings as well!?) Pete looked over at me with a confused look. "What do you- Oh my god, Firkle! Have some self-control!" he exclaimed.

"No! I can't!" I replied as I continued to pour on chocolate cheesecake into my bowl.

Pete rushed over and grabbed me around the middle, lifting me off my feet and forcing me away from the machines. "All right, bud, I think that's enough," he sighed, "Remember who's paying for you. Time for toppings."

"Toppings," I repeated, my eyes still wide.

He gently set me down in front of the counter with the yogurt toppings where I immediately started putting a little bit of everything on my Frankenstein's monster of a creation. Pete sighed and shook his head at me.

"I think you're getting more out of this place than any of us are," he commented.

When we were done, we walked over to where Ike and the other two were waiting for us at the register. Ike nearly fainted when he saw how much yogurt I had. Henrietta had to catch him when he saw how much it cost and then offered to pay for mine separately.

"Think you have enough there, bucko?" Michael teased once everything had been paid and we sat down at one of the outside tables.

"Fuck off," I muttered at him.

"You'll never finish all of that," Henrietta predicted.

"Challenge accepted!"

"It wasn't a challenge, Firkle," she sighed.

I did manage to finish it all. Ike was rather impressed, but my friends were kind of disgusted. But I didn't care, because it was delicious. 10/10, would eat again.

…

We got back to the hotel, stuffed and tired. While my friends and Ike started settling down with their books, I decided to use the opportunity to take a shower, since I knew the water would be better than at my house. With Henrietta telling me not to use up all the hot water, I washed myself, feeling nice and clean and a lot better than I usually did after a shower. I dried myself off and put my night clothes on before going back into the room.

Michael and Henrietta had claimed one of the beds for themselves of course. Pete was on the other bed, while Ike sat in one of the chairs, reading. I walked over to the bed and climbed on next to Pete and pulled out the next volume of _Black Butler._ Henrietta scrambled off the bed to take her shower as we all quietly read.

I was halfway through my manga when I thought of something. "Hey Ike," I called, "Where are you sleeping tonight?"

The Canadian boy looked up from his book and blushed slightly. "Oh! Um, er, I thought that, well if it was all right with you of course, I could sleep next to you," he stammered. I stared at him for a brief moment before sighing.

"I guess!" I replied. Ike thanked me before hiding his face in his book.

When Henrietta stepped out of the bathroom, she had only a single towel wrapped around her frame. Ike, who had moved to sit beside me on the bed, recoiled in shock as she dropped the towel to start getting dressed. I was confused until I remembered that Ike wasn't used to Henrietta's habit of casually undressing around us.

"Oh sorry," I said to Ike, "I forgot that Henrietta is really, er, unashamed about getting naked in front of us."

"Unashamed and proud!" she declared as she dug through her bag for some clothes. I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"Can you at least put your towel back on? You're making Ike nervous," I pointed out. Henrietta muttered something in a mocking voice but complied.

For the rest of the time until we went to bed we all simply read quietly. I didn't realize that I would have to sleep in between Ike and Pete and it made me a little claustrophobic. Despite this, I closed my eyes and tried to fall asleep anyway.

 **I think this chapter has gone on long enough. We're going to get the rest of their trip next chapter and it's probably going to be a lot shorter than this one. Sorry for taking so long to update. I was busy with school and this chapter was long and depression has always been an issue and writer's block was rearing its ugly head. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things with this and my other stories as well. In the meantime, please leave a comment!**


	16. Chapter 16 - From Far Away to Here

**Whoo! That was a long chapter. Let's see if we can get this chapter out a little faster. Other than the beginning of the chapter I don't know what's going to happen.**

 **BTW, I have a Twitter if you want to look me up and send art my way. Or just bother me a lot. Look me up at White Thunder ThunderingWhite. Look for the picture of the horse.**

 **Chapter 16 – From Far Away to Here**

I woke up in a cold sweat, trembling with fear. I didn't get it. Usually when I was with my friends my nightmares would cease to haunt me. Shivering, I sat up and looked around. Ike was still sound asleep beside me, a small smile on his face. Michael and Henrietta appeared unbothered as well.

"Firkle?" a voice said behind me, startling me slightly. I turned around to see Pete staring at me through the darkness. "What's wrong? Are you all right?"

I blinked at him with wide eyes. Other than Henrietta, neither of my friends knew I suffered from nightmares. I took in a shuddering breath and tried to calm myself.

"Y-Yeah," I lied, "I was just… startled is all. I forgot I had two people sleeping next to me. That's all." Even in the darkness I could tell he didn't believe me. But I didn't want to tell him the truth about my nightmares.

"Are you sure you're ok?" he asked again. I sighed.

"Honestly, I could really use a smoke right now," I admitted. Pete gave me a small smile.

"That's good," he said, "Because I could use one myself." As quietly as we could, the two of us crawled out of the bed and left the room. We stole down the hallway and made our way to the elevators.

"You grabbed a room key, right?" I asked him as we headed down.

"Of course I did," Pete answered, holding it up.

We made it to the ground floor then left the hotel. We found a nice dark corner to lean against before Pete pulled out his cigarettes and handed one to me. He lit it for me and I took a long drag before blowing it out. Instantly, I started to feel better.

"Thanks, Pete," I said. He smiled down at me.

"No problem," he replied, blowing out his own smoke.

We were silent as we smoked our cigarettes. I started to get lost in my own thoughts after a while so I didn't notice at first when Pete turned to me.

"So, what's up with you and Ike?" he suddenly wondered. I started coughing on my smoke.

"What do you mean?" I questioned when I regained my breath.

"You've been spending a lot of time with him recently," Pete noted, "I was rather surprised when you asked us if he could come with us on this trip. I find it a little strange that he's been getting you to do things you would normally never do."

I looked down at the ground. "It's nothing," I insisted, "He's just someone to hang out with. I don't have anyone my age that tolerates me besides him. Besides, he helps me with my homework, so what's the big deal?"

Pete stared at me for a long moment before sighing. "Sorry," he said, "I just wanted to make sure he wasn't…" He paused and I looked at him.

"Wasn't what?"

"Nothing," he replied, "Forget about it."

I stared at him, confused, but said nothing. We eventually finished smoking and headed back upstairs to the room. As we rode the elevator up, Pete looked at me.

"Feeling better?" he asked me.

"Yeah," I sighed with relief, "Thanks Pete. I really needed that. I was just feeling so anxious."

We made it back to the room and quietly snuck in, careful not to wake anyone. Luckily, the other three were still asleep and didn't seem to have noticed that we left. I slid into the bed next to Ike and Pete laid down next to me, lightly pressing against me.

I let out a soft breath and closed my eyes, falling to sleep within a few minutes.

…

When I woke up the next morning, I was completely smooshed between Ike and Pete. Growling slightly, I pushed them both away from me, needing air. I sat up as Ike gave me a sheepish grin.

"Good morning, Firkle," he greeted. I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"Morning, Ike," I murmured, "Sleep well? You seemed to." He blushed slightly.

"Sorry," he apologized, "It was, ah, really cold last night."

"Well, I did warn you that we keep the room cold," I told him, "You can't blame me for not being prepared."

"Yeah, but I didn't know _how_ freezing you guys liked to keep it!" he exclaimed, "I had to get up during the night to put my shoes back on because I thought my toes were going to get frostbite!"

"You're over-exaggerating," I dismissed with a quick flick of my eyes.

"Maybe, but you get my point." He got up and grabbed some clothes from his bag. "I'm gonna take a shower and warm myself up," he informed me.

"All right. I'm gonna turn up the temperature to wake up these lumps," I said, indicating my still sleeping friends, including Pete, who had gone back to bed.

Normally we all slept until noon or later. But we needed to get up and get going and I knew my friends (as well as myself). We could not sleep at all if the room was above a certain temperature, so I went over to the thermostat and turned it up. Then I went to the fan and chanced it from AC to heat. They would be awake in a few minutes.

Sure enough, after the roaring of the heat turning on, a couple of minutes later the three of them began to stir. I sat, cross-legged on the bed, watching as they started shifting and getting irritated, and I wondered who would wake up first.

It was Henrietta, surprisingly. Grumbling loudly, she rolled over from where she had been practically crushing Michael and sat up. She groaned and rubbed her eyes.

"Urgh, you turned the temp up, didn't you, Firkle?" she mumbled.

"Yes, I did!" I answered proudly.

"You little bastard," she groaned.

At that moment, Ike came out of the bathroom, freshly showered and all dressed, letting more steam and heat into the room. Apparently that was too much for Michael and Pete.

"Guh. That's it. Next time we're getting separate hotel rooms," Michael grumbled.

"If we did that you guys wouldn't get up until like, dinner time," I pointed out.

"No, we wouldn't!" Pete argued, "Hunger would wake us up well before that!"

Ike walked over and plopped down on the bed next to me. "So, are we getting breakfast before we leave?" he asked.

"I sure hope so," Henrietta replied, "I'm not driving on an empty stomach. I need meat."

"You always need meat," Pete pointed out. Henrietta cast a glare at him.

"Don't test me, boy," she growled at him, "Or you're going to be my breakfast."

"Speaking of which, are we eating here or looking for somewhere else to eat?" I inquired. Henrietta shrugged.

"I guess here is good," she responded, "I don't feel like wandering around looking for a place to get food."

With that, we packed up all of our stuff and made our way down to the lobby. Thankfully they were still serving breakfast and there was plenty of food left, so we found a place to sit away from the other guests and grabbed a plate of food.

Despite Michael having found like the cheapest hotel we could afford, the food was actually pretty good. Henrietta had her plate piled high with every kind of meat available because she's insane. Ike, who sat beside me, had a raisin bagel and I had to resist the urge to call him a weirdo. I had a muffin. Michael said I should have more to eat but I didn't want to. I did sneak some ham off of Henrietta's plate when she wasn't look, though.

When we were finished eating, we packed up the truck and got back on the road. Again, I sat between Ike and Pete and because of our bags of books it made it even more cramped than before. I decided to start reading _Dracula_ to distract myself from how uneasy I was.

Soon we stopped at one of those rest points because Henrietta "Tiny Bladder" Biggle had to pee. It was one of those combination rest stops/restaurants/giftshops. Which meant we could all relieve ourselves and get snacks while we were here. As well as getting some bags of chips and other snacks, I decided to also get a burger since I didn't eat much for breakfast. When I got back to the truck with my food, Michael was there waiting for everyone else. He sighed when he saw me.

"Really Firkle?" he asked, "You know, you wouldn't need all of that if you had just eaten more at breakfast."

"Don't judge me," I grumbled as I got back in the truck. I couldn't actually hear Michael let out an annoyed sigh or see him roll his eyes, but I know he did it.

A few minutes later the others got back and we were on the road again. I opened my burger and took off the top bun. "Here, Ike, take these pickles," I instructed, handing them to him, "I don't want them."

I also pulled off the large onion and gave that to Pete. The cheese had to go too. And that's when I got a strange look from Pete.

"Why did you order a cheeseburger if you were just going to take off the cheese?" he wondered, "Why not order a plain hamburger?"

"Because fuck you, that's why," I muttered, taking a bite of my burger. And then as soon as I finished my burger, I fell asleep leaning against Pete.

…

When I woke up again we just outside of South Park and Henrietta was blasting the song "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on the radio. I sat up and noticed Ike plugging his ears, likely from how loud she had the volume up. I smirked at him. Wimp.

The song ended and Henrietta turned the music off. With a silent sigh of relief, Ike took his fingers out of his ears.

"You know, friend of Firkle, you could have told me that the music was too loud," Henrietta pointed out, "I would have turned it down."

"Um, actually I did ask you to turn it down," Ike murmured, blushing, "But you couldn't hear me." Then I heard him mutter under his breath, "And I have a name."

"Oh. Well, I feel silly," said Henrietta.

"Should we drop you off at your house?" Michael asked him.

"Um, sure," Ike replied, "My mom will probably want me home soon. She always worries about me, even when she knows where I am."

"Wish I knew what it was like to have a mom like that," I hissed.

"Same," Henrietta agreed. After her parents realized they couldn't change or control her, Henrietta's parents sort of stopped caring what she did. Which was nice for freedom, but it made Henrietta think that they never really cared about her in the first place, much like my parents.

We pulled up in front of Ike's house and he hopped out of the truck with his bag of books. I decided to get out with him to help him get his overnight bag from the back. When he had everything, he turned to the truck.

"Thanks for inviting me along this weekend," he said to us, "I had a lot of fun and it's been a while since my mom let me leave town."

"No problem, little man," Michael called from the passenger seat, "Some of us know what it's like to have overbearing parents."

I gave a half wave good-bye to Ike before we drove to Michael and Pete's dorm room to hang out for the rest of the day.

 **I'm gonna end the chapter here. Next chapter something different will happen, but I do know what will happen. Mostly. Anyway, please leave a comment, stay safe, and wash your hands!**


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